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GUITEAU.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1882, by
Charles Guifeau,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
I
PAET I.
THE TRUTH:
A Companion to the Bible.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Preface 9
Paul, the Apostle 11
Christ's Second Coming, at the Destruction of Jerusalem, A.
D. 70 25
Christianity Reviewed since A. D. 70 45
Hades and the Final Judgment 59
A Reply to Attacks on the Bible 65
Some Reasons why Many Persons are Going down to Perdition. 73
The Two Seeds 87
The Predicted Fate of the Earth 93
PART II.
The Removal — Synopsis of my Trial for removing James A.
Garfield, with Letters of Commendation and other papers... 99
Appendix ..; 201
PREFACE.
I was on theology two or three years, and this book is
the result. It was written as I had light during this
period. " Christ's Second Coming, A. D. 70," was written
at the Public Library in Chicago in December, 1876. I
worked a mouth on it. '' Paul the Apostle " and " Chris-
tianity Reviewed " were written in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
in August and September, 1878. " A Reply to Attacks
on the Bible" and "Hades and the Final Judgment"
were mostly written at Bridgeport, Ct., in February,
1878. '' Some Reasons Why Many People are Going
Down to Perdition " was written at the Library of the
Young Men's Christian Association in the city of New
York in September, 1879. " The Two Seeds ' was written
at "The Arlington," in Washington, D, C, in June,
1881.
" The Truth " is my contribution to the civilization of
the race, and I ask for it a careful attention, to the end,
that many souls may find the Saviour. A new line of
thought runs through it, and if it does not demonstrate
the existence of Heaven and Hell, I submit their exist-
ence cannot be proved.
CHARLES GUITEAU.
United States Jail,
Washington, D. C, March 6, 1882.
PAUL THE APOSTLE.
THE life of a great man, in a great period of the
world's history, is a subject to command the atten-
tion of every thoughtful mind. Alexander, on his East-
ern expedition, spreading the civilization of Greece over
the Asiatic and African shores of the Mediterranean ;
Julius Caesar, contending against the Gauls, and subduing
the barbarism of Western Europe to the order and dis-
cipline of Roman government ; Charlemagne, compressing
the separating atoms of the feudal world, and reviving for
a time the image of imperial unity ; Columbus, sailing
westward over the Atlantic to discover a new world which
might receive the arts and religion of the old ; Napoleon,
on his rapid campaigns, shattering the ancient systems of
European States and leaving a chasm between our pres-
ent and the past — these {says an historiaix) are the colos-
sal figures of history, which stamp their personal great-
ness on the centuries in which they lived.
But I tell you of a greater than they. I tell you of
Jesus Christ, and of Paul His great apostle. Compared
to Christ and Paul, the greatest men of the world sink
into insignificance. They lived and thrived for a time
in power, in wealth, in luxury, and then they went down.
When all things were ripe, Paul came. He came at
the confluence of three national civilizations — the Roman,
the Greek, and the Jewish. The Romans represented
temporal power and pleasure. The Greeks sought wis-
12
dom ; the Jews religion. Aside from the Jews, the whole
world was given to idolatrj'. For two thousand years
God had sent upon the Jewish nation the rain and sun-
shine of religious discipline. They were his chosen
people. The Old Testament is the record of God's deal-
ings with the Jews during these two thousand years.
When the time came, in the providence of God, for
the long-promised and much-looked-for Messiah to appear
in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth was born of the Virgin
Mary. In time this God-man grew to manhood. Then
came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of
Judea, "Repent, for the kindom of God is at hand."
Then Christ himself began to preach, " Repent, for the
kingdom of God is at hand." He moved up and down
Judea, "and spake as one having authority." Vast
multitudes followed him. He cast out devils, healed the
sick, restored the blind and diseased, told the multitude
who He was, and what He came for ; that God, the
Father, had sent him to point the race the way to eternal
hfe.
This wonderful being had nowhere to lay His head.
He had no money. He had no friends. He never trav-
elled. He never wrote a book. He was hated, despised,
and finally crucified as a vile impostor. Then, back He
went to the bosom of His Father. The natural eye of
man has never seen Him since (except for a brief time
when He appeared to His disciples after His resurrection.)
He gathered to himself a few despised individuals who
believed that He was "God manifested in the flesh."
They were as poor as Himself. They had no money and
J
13
no standing in society, and were mostly fishermen. He
told them that after He was gone, something (He called
it the Holy Spirit) would come upon them and fill them
with power. By it they could cast out devils and do
mightier works than He had done.
His disciples went about telling that the Jews had
made a terrible mistake in crucifying this wonderful
being. That he was in truth the Son of the living God.
Many believed it, and trembled with great fear when
they realized they had crucified the Lord of glory. There
was some doubt about His resurrection. He said He
should rise again "in three days." Some believed it;
some did not ; and there were great disputings about it.
Some even in this age deny His resurrection. But most
decent people believe it. " If Christ be not risen," says
Paul, " then is our preaching vain." " Ye are yet in your
sins." It is of the utmost importance to know if this
wonderful being was raised from the dead, as He said
He would be and as most people believe He was. The
salvation or damnation of individuals rests upon their
belief of this point.
This wonderful being spake as man never spake before
(nor since.) His ideas appalled his hearers. He claimed
greater wisdom than Moses. The Jews could not stand
His teachings. They never had heard anything like it,
and it made them mad. "Art thou greater than owx
Father Abraham ?" " What makest thou thyself ?" " Tell
us, 'Who art thou?'"
The teachings of this wonderful being were taken up
by one Saul, a man of great intellect and learning. He
14
was miraculously converted on his way to Damascus,
whither he was going, " breathing out threatenings and
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." As he
journeyed near Damascus, suddenly there shone about
him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth, as in a
trance, and he heard a voice saying, " Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me ?" And he said, " Who art thou,
Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou per-
secutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
(Acts, ix, 2-5.)
"What wilt thou have me to do f said Paul. The
Lord told him his mission, and from that moment, Saul
(or Paul as we now call him) was this wonderful being's
most devoted follower.
For thirty years, in perils, on the land and on the sea,
in daily exposure to death, Paul's devotion to this won-
derful being knew neither interruption nor decay. For
thirty years, in prison and out of prison, he served him
with amazing effect. At all times, and under all circum-
stances he was true to his Master. His devotion carried
him upward and onward, toward an " eternal weight of
glory."
I am here to show something of Paul's life and princi-
ples.
When God wants anything done, He sends a man to
do it. He called Abraham and Moses, and all the leaders
of the Old Testament dispensation. When the time
came He sent His Son, " Christ Jesus," into this world
of sin and misery. For two thousand years He had been
preparing the world for His coming. For generations
I
15
the Old Testament saints bad been praying and watching
for the Messiah. At last He came, in abject poverty, and
" His own received Him not." They entirely mistook the
Messiah's mission. They supposed He would relieve
them from the Roman yoke, and give them temporal
power and pleasure. But Christ came in poverty, to turn
the hearts of His followers from earth to heaven.
Paul perceived the spiritual nature of Christ's mission,
death, and resurrection more than any of His followers.
He was learned in the law. His intellect was keen and
his spiritual perception, under Divine guidance, most
wonderful. His new ideas maddened the Jews. They
hated to have their theology upset. It bore the conse-
crated dust of twenty centuries. It came from their
fathers, and they hated to have it set aside. Paul's ideas
cut them to the quick, and they sought his life. Relig-
ious people hate innovatoi'S. They prefer the good old
ways of their ancestors.
In the book of Acts we have vivid accounts of the
doings of Paul and the apostles while they were trying to
introduce Christianity. The Jews fought the innovators
at every step. FrequentW the apostles were before the
ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Sometimes they were
scourged, sometimes imprisoned ; but out of it all " the
Lord delivered them." They kept on preaching. They
taught that Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews had wick-
edly crucified, was the true Messiah. Some believed,
and some did not. Often a division arose among the
Jews as to the guilt or innocence of the apostles, and
16
they escaped punishment on that account. Paul was a
Roman citizen, and this fact saved him many scourgings.
Paul was their great preacher. He travelled " from
house to house," from city to city, from province to prov-
ince, warning every man, day and night, " with tears," to
find the Saviour. He taught publicly and privately. He
worked at his trade during the day and preached the
Gospel Sundays and at night. He was "all things to all
men," working, laboring with his " own hands," that he
might not owe any one. At other times " he hungered
and thirsted, and was naked, and had no certain dwelling-
place." His name became the " offscourings " of the
whole world. Whatever his outward circumstances, he
stood firm. He called all his troubles "light afflictions."
His eye was on the " eternal weight of glory." Under his
preaching the Gospel took root. Believers appeared on
all sides. Churches were founded in the cities and vil-
lages, and Christianity commenced its march toward the
conquest of the world.
I desire to put myself in Paul's place, and take you
with me through his varied life scenes. Let us go back
eighteen centuries. Let us suppose we live in Judea.
We find that the Roman government is the only temporal
power. All things visible are under its control. Its
emperors live in the magnificent city of Rome, in gor-
geous palaces, surrounded by retinues of officials, who are
their abject slaves. The emperor has absolute control
over the life and property of his subjects. His dominions
cover nearly the entire earth. His subjects are Romans,
Greeks, and Jews. Outside of the Jews, the entire world
17
is given to idolatry and sensuality. Paul was Christ's
apostle to the " Gentiles," i. e., to the Romans and
Greeks. Peter and the other apostles looked after the
Jews. Paul's special work was with the Romans and
Greeks. He was to carry the message of eternal life to
them. The Romans sought temporal power and pleasure.
The Greeks wisdom. Paul, as the preacher of Chris-
tianity, had to meet the position of both.
During the reign of Nero, Paul spent two years a pris-
oner in Rome, and of this experience I shall speak shortly.
I now tell how he came to go to Rome.
In the Acts of the Apostles we have a touching account
of Paul's charge to the elders of Ephesus, as he goes
bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the
things that should there befall him, " save that the Holy
Ghost witnesseth, that in every city, bonds and afflic-
tions " awaited him. But none of these things moved
him. He counted not his life dear unto him. His only
anxiety was to finish his Master's work. He told them
they should " see his face no more," and that he had
faithfully declared unto them "the full counsel of God."
"And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's face, and
kissed him, sorrowing most of all that they should see
his face no more." (Acts, xx, 38.)
Although repeatedly warned not to go to Jerusalem,
Paul went, and, while preaching in the temple, he was
apprehended and came very near being mobbed by some
Jews from Asia. They moved " all Jerusalem " against
him, and only the police saved him from death. They
bound him and prepared to scourge him, but desisted,
18
upon finding he was a Roman citizen. He was brought
before Fehx and charged with being '"a pestilent fellow,
and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout
the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes."
(Acts, xxiv, 5.) He denied the accusation, but admitted
he "worshipped the God of his fathers" in a way the
Jews called heresy. Felix remanded him, hoping to get
money. Finally, he appeai'ed before Festus, the suc-
cessor of Felix, and by him was sent to King Agrippa.
Festus sent a letter to the king to the efifect that Paul
had declared that "one Jesus" was alive, whereas in fact
he was dead. Then the king wished to see Paul himself,
and he was brought before him. Upon a hearing Paul
defended himself, and the king was disposed to let him
go, but Paul, when before Festus, had appealed to the
emperor at Rome, and to him he was sent.
He sailed for Rome under an escort of soldiery, was
shipwrecked, but " the Lord stood by him," and all on
board were saved. After a time he reached Rome. In
Rome he was guarded by a soldier, and lived " two years
n his owa hired house," preaching the Gospel with "all
confidence, no man forbidding him."
Some of Paul's best epistles were written while a pris-
oner at Rome. Wherever he happened to be, in prison
or out of prison, when the spirit moved him he sent an
epistle. He always commenced it by declaring his au-
thority as an " Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of
God, separated unto the Gospel." Sometimes he wrote
it with his " own hand." Oftener he dictated it, and sent
it by some "dearly beloved" worker "in the Lord."
19
They were publicly read in the churches, often amid
"many tears." They were addressed to believers
" throughout all ages," and in all conditions of life. His
great theme, " Christ crucified — the hope of glory. Dead
to the world, alive to God in Christ Jesus." Paul
preached the Gospel "in bonds," but the "Word of
God " was not bound. It penetrated the confines of the
Roman Empire. " Your faith," he says to the Romans,
"is spoken of throughout the whole world." (Rom., i, 18.)
In the time of Nero — i. 6., when Paul was a prisoner
in Rome — the Palatine Hill {sa^js mi historian) had be-
come one vast congeries of imperial piles for the private
residence of the emperors and the officials of the court,
and for public purposes. It included palaces, temples,
libraries, baths, and fountains, the gardens of Adonis,
and an area for athletic games. All this pile of palaces
was rich beyond all modern luxury, in marble, and gild-
ing, and frescoes, and bronzes, and mosaics, and statu-
ary, and paintings. There, the luxury of life, the extrav-
agance of expenditure in furniture and feasts and wines ;
the employment of troops of players, mimics, musicians,
athletes, gladiators, charioteers, and nameless ministers
of nameless vices, were such as Christian civilization, in
its most splendid and vicious periods, has never known.
Luxury, lust, and murder went mad in the house of
Csesar, from the reign of Augustus to that of Vespasian —
i. e., during the very period that Christ and His apostles
were trying to establish Christianity.
These emperors were monsters of iniquity. They com-
mitted the foulest social vices. They were often vin-
20
dictive murderers, killing their own relations, without
mercy or cause. Nearly all met a violent death. They
were too wicked to die like decent men.
But even in "Caesar's household " {i. e., among his
slaves,) some were called " to the faith of Christ." They
loved to hear Paul tell of Jesus and the resurrection.
They were servants and slaves, but they were precious to
Paul. He knew they would go up and their masters
down. "All the saints." he says to Philemon, "salute
you. Chiefly they of Caesar's household."
" Not many mighty men " were called in Paul's church.
The Gospel was for the poor and needy. The self-
righteous Pharisees hated it. The rich and noble missed
it, and so it has been in all ages. " I came," says the
Master, " not to call the righteous, but sinners to repent-
ance."
Timothy, Paul's beloved son in the Gospel, to whom
he wrote two of his most touching and important epistles ;
also Luke, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, and
Mark, the Evangelist, were among Paul's constant friends
while he was a prisoner, " in his own hired house " in
Rome. These, and others like minded, surrounded and
cheered him by their Christian fellowship and affection.
Great indeed must have been the strength which Paul
derived from these brethren. Sympathy is sweet in pro-
portion to the bitterness of trials ; and their sympathy
must have been doubly sweet to Paul, bound as he was
" in chains," and living amid a most " awfully polluted
Paganism. " He speaks of them as " beloved," as " dear,"
21
as "faithful," and that "long after" their converts in
Christ.
Behold a picture. Look at Paul and the saints in
Rome worshipping the God of their fathers, and the new
God, Christ Jesus, just revealed to them.
Then look at Nero and his gorgeous surroundings.
Nero represented Paganism in its " utmost power, splen-
dor, and corruption." Paul represented Christianity in
" its feebleness, poverty, and purity." Nero and Paul
represent, each in the highest degree, what the world and
the Gospel can do for man. "The one tormented by
conscience in the midst of boundless luxury and power ;
the other, joyful on the verge of martyrdom." The one
possessing all temporal good ; the other, scarcely nothing.
The one rich on earth, but poor in heaven. The other
poor here, but rich, for ever and ever, in the eternal
world. Think of the infamy on Nero's name all these
ages, and then think of the power of Paul's words in the
Bible all these centuries. Consider, that they have been
read and wept over by millions and millions of the best
men and women who have lived "in this vale of tears."
Had you rather be Paul or Nero ?
" Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto
the Lord ; husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
Church," Paul wrote while a Roman prisoner, surrounded
by a horrible debauchery and licentiousness.
The Romans had not always been so depraved as they
were during the time of Paul and Nero. During the
republic, and even in the age of Augustus, the utmost
purity prevailed in the family relations. The maidens
22
and matrons were pure and modest. Adultery was pun-
ished by death or exile. Even the emperor's own kin
were not exempt. Unfortunately this law did not apply
to the Roman father or youth. It was only the sanctity
of the maidens and matrons that was so sternly guarded ;
and this, not on the ground of morality, but that the
" Roman stock might be preserved unmixed and unweak-
ened,"' to the end, that the " state might always have fit
citizens to uphold and extend the glory of all-conquering
Rome." Outside of Roman families great license pre-
vailed. Philosophers counted licentiousness, within the
limits of the law, to be unwise, rather than wicked. This
was Roman civilization — a civilization which entirely ex-
cluded all Divine guidance in the affairs of men.
Paul taught that to break the marriage bond was the
greatest of crimes. It was to violate a specific law of
God. It was to fill societ}' with pollution, violence, and
manifold evil. If his views prevailed, it would close
every brothel in the land.
I desire to speak briefly of Pauls second imprisonment
in Rome, and his martyi'dom.
After being detained two years in Rome, Paul was re-
leased. It is supposed he was found " not guilty " of the
charges preferred against him by the Jews, and upon
which he was held. He preached the Gospel, after his
release, in the provinces for several years, but was finally
apprehended and sent to Rome the second time, where
he was executed under Nero.
It was a terrible time for Paul and his followers, when
Nero, mad with debauchery and ci'uelty, commenced a
23
systematic persecution of the Christians. Rome had
been burned, and the opinion prevailed that it had been
set on fire by Nero's own orders. The infamy of that
horrible transaction still adhered to him. In order, if
possible, to remove this imputation, he determined to
transfer the guilt to the Christians. They were con-
demned without sufficient evidence, and put to death
with " exquisite cruelty, and to their sufferings Nero of-
fered mockery and derision. " The details of this perse-
cution are too horrible for recital, and I pass them by.
I desire to call attention to Paul's spiritual condition
while waiting execution. It was during this incarcera-
tion that he wrote his second epistle to Timothy, which
is so full of faith and apt in espressiou. It proves the
sublime power of the Gospel. It is no less remarkable
for what it contains than for what it omits. He tells
Timothy, and the faithful " in Christ Jesus, " throughout
all time, and in all lands, to stand steadfast in the Gos-
pel, and to meet him in heaven. "I charge thee, there-
fore, " he says to Timothy, " before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at His
appearing, to preach the word, in season and out of sea-
son, reprove, rebiake, exhort, with long-sufifering and
doctrine ; for the time will come when they will not en-
dure sound doctrine, but turn unto fables. But watch
thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
" For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure is at hand.
"I have fought a good fight.
24
" I have finished my course.
" I have kept the faith.
" Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right-
eousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them,
also, that love His appearing." (II Tim., iv, 8.)
Methinks I see the old warrior in his dungeon in Eome,
waiting and watching for his Master. Look at him !
Bowed with age. Chained like a condemned felon. For-
saken- by "all men." Under sentence of death, and yet
he faltered not ; for he knew his Master would shortly
appear and take him to glory. For thirty years he had
proved himself a minister of God, "in much patience,
in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in
fastings ; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering,
by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by
the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of
righteousness, on the right hand and on the left ; by
honor and dishonor ; by evil report and good report ; as
deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet well known ;
as dying, and behold, we live ; as chastened, and not
killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet
making many rich ; as having nothing, yet possessing all
things." (II Cor., vi, 4-10.)
Yes, yes ; thou, Paul, waited only two years for thy
"crown." Thou wert executed A. D. 68, and thy Master
came at the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, and gavest
thee thy " crown . "
CHRIST'S SECOND COMING AT THE DES-
TRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, A. D. 70.*
* This was written in December, 1876.
I
CHRIST'S SECOND COMING, A. D. 70.
For eighteen centuries Christendom has expected the
second coming of Christ. From father to son, from gen-
eration to generation, this idea has come down from the
primitive Church. During all these ages Christ has not
appeared in response to this expectation, and we propose
to show that the reason He has not appeared is because
He came at the siege of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, " in the
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory," and
judged " the quick and dead," the righteous and wicked
of the entire human I'ace (except those living on earth at
the moment he appeared during the siege of Jerusalem.)
(See page 35.) Those then living and not taken, (see page
48, last paragraph,) and all who have lived on earth since
A. D. 70, will be judged at the Final Judgment which
will take place at the end of the world.
This is the idea we propose to establish by a careful
review of the New Testament, and of Christianity since
A. D. 70.
We present the idea that .Christ came in judgment at
the destruction of Jerusalem, as a discovery, and ask for
it a prayerful reception. No one can understand the
Bible without this view of the Second Coming, and herein
is the great value of the discovery.
In examining this subject we wipe away the tradition,
and mist, and unbelief of past ages, and stand on the
words of Jesus Christ concerning His own coming, and
^ 27
28
the expectations of Paul, and the primitive Christians.
We imagine ourselves with Christ and Paul in Judea.
They were addressing common people, and we take them
at their words. We believe they said what they meant,
and meant what they said.
We have the first reference to Christ's coming in Mat-
thew, X, 23. Therein He tells His disciples, " When they
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another, for verily,
I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of
Israel till the Son of Man come ;" in Matthew, xvi, 28,
" There be some standing here which shall not taste of
death till they see the Son of Man coming in His king-
dom ;" in John, xxi, 22, " If I will that he " (John) " tarry
till I come, what is that to thee ?" which is a clear intima-
tion that John should live till Christ came ; i. e., till the
destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70 ; in Luke, x, 12,
" That it shall be more tolerable in that day," (meaning
the day of His coming, when He would judge them,)
"than for that city;" in verse 35, "To keep their lights
burning ;" in Luke, xii, 36, " To act like men that wait
for their Lord ; that when He cometh and knocketh, they
may open unto Him immediately ;" in verse 40, " Be ye
also ready, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when
ye think not ;" in verse 56, addressing the people, " Ye
hypocrites ! ye can discern the face of the sky and of the
earth, but how is it that ye discern not this time ? "
(thereby meaning the time of their judgment at His com-
ing, then close at hand ;) in Matthew, xxvi, 29, He says
He shall not drink again of the " fruit of the vine " till He
drinks it with His disciples in His Father's kingdom ; in
29
Matthew, xxvi, 34, "Verily, I say unto you, this genera-
tion " (by the words " this generation " Christ always
means His contemporaries) " shall not pass till all these
things " (meaning the destruction of Jerusalem, which
occurred A. D. 70, and the tribulation preceding it and
His second coming,) "be fulfilled." " Heaven and earth,"
Christ adds with terrible emphasis (verse 35,) " shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away ;" and therefore,
we conclude, He came at the destruction of Jerusalem,
A. D. 70, "in the clouds of Heaven, with power and
great glory ;" i. e., within the generation of his contem-
poraries.
In the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of John (he
alone records it,) Christ discourses tenderly to His disci-
ples (not to the world,) as He is about to leave them and
return to the bosom of the Father. Among other cheer-
ing things He tells them, "In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it toe7'e not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." (John,
xiv, 2, 3.) " I will not leave you comfortless ; I will
come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me
no more ; but ye see me ; because I live ye shall live also.
At that day " (meaning the day of his coming), ' ' ye shall
know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you." (John, xiv, 18-20.) "Ye have heard how I said
unto you, I go away and come again unto you." (John,
xiv, 28.)
The above words of Christ are the foundation for the
30
hope which has existed in the Christan Church, since His
ascension, tliat some time He would ''come again" to
earth. And we are here to show that He did come at the
destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. He came exactly as
He said He would, and as the primitive Christians ex-
pected, and yet, for eighteen centuries, Christendom has
known it not. Further on we shall show why they have
not known it.
The locality of Christ's coming was " in the clouds of
heaven, " directly over Jerusalem ; i. e., at the place of
His greatest earthly agony. At His first coming He was
crucified at Jerusalem amid the scoffs of the world. At
His second coming He stood over Jerusalem, in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory, " judging the
quick and dead.
We ascertain the time, of Christ's coming thus : " Im-
mediately after the tribulation of those days" — ^. e.,
immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem and the
tribulation preceding it, says Christ (Matt., xxiv, 29-31,)
"shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give
her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; and the^i shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they " — i. e.,
the tribes (see Rev., i, 7,) — " shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the
other. " Again he says (Matt., xxiv, 33,) " When ye
31
shall see all these things, " meaning the desolation of
Jerusalem and the tribulation preceding it, "know that
it " i. e., My coming " is near, even at the door." Again,
He says (Luke, xxi, 20,) "When ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh, " i. e., that Jerusalem is about to be
destroyed, and my words concerning it fulfilled, " and
when these things (He continues in verse 28,) begin to
come to pass, then, look up and lift up your heads, for
your redemption draweth nigh, " ^. e., that I am about to
come and take you with me to glory. And, therefore,
we conclude: (1,) that the destruction of Jerusalem;
(2,) the coming of Christ ; and (3,) as the consequence of
His coming, the " redemption " of His disciples, to whom
He was speaking, were simultaneous events.
In the 24th of Matthew, Christ predicts the occurrence
of certain events before His coming, which we now ex-
amine, and thereby show that every prediction He made
relating to His coming was fulfilled prior to the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem ; ^. e., prior to His coming.
In Matthew, xxiv, 2, Christ says, " See ye not all these
things? Verily, I say unto you there shall not be left
standing here " (meaning the temple) " one stone upon
another that shall not be thrown down."
History records the destruction of Jerusalem and the
temple thus : " In A. D. 66 " (American Encyclopaedia,
vol. 10, page 2) " the Jews, goaded to despair by the
tyranny of the Romans, revolted, took possession of the
city, and a Roman army, commanded by Certius Gallus,
governor of Syria, was routed in battle before its walls."
32
Titus, son of the emperor, Vespasian, regained it in A. D.
70, after one of the most terrible battles on record. His
troops, maddened by the resistance of the defenders,
spared neither age nor sex. Thousands of Jews, seeing
all hope lost, threw themselves headlong from the towers,
and a horrible scene of carnage ensued. According to
Josephus, over eleven hundred thousand Jews perished
in the siege, and ninety-seven thousand were carried into
captivity. Titus himself was unable to control the rage
of his troops, and with regret saw the temple (which he
had intended to preserve as a memorial of his own vic-
tory) burned and the entire city razed to the ground ;
and thus Christ's prediction, made A. D. 33, or shortly
before His crucifixion, was literally fulfilled. Everything
he foretold concerning the temple, city, and people of
the Jews was fulfilled in the most astonishing manner. It
was witnessed by Josephus, a Jewish contemporary of
Christ, and who is acknowledged to be a historian of in-
disputable veracity on all those transactions concerning
the destruction of Jerusalem. The wars and rumors of
war, the Antichrists, the famines, the pestilences, the
earthquakes, the "great tribulation," etc., spoken of by
the evangelists as events preceding Christ's coming, all
came to pass prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. Jo-
sephus records the occurrence of these great events as a
matter of history of which he was an eye-witness ; but he
knew nothing of the scripture containing Christ's proph-
ecy. He speaks contemptuously of Christ, as "one Jesus,
a country fellow, who went about crying with a loud
voice, 'Woe, woe, to the city, to the people, and to the
33
temple.' " The whole land of Judea is represented at that
time " as a woman in grievous travail." Christ himself
said upon that generation (meaning his contemporaries)
should "come all the righteous blood shed upon earth."
"Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come
upon this generation." (Matt., xxiii, 35, 36.) And it did
come. Christ's contemporaries crucified God's only Son,
and, therefore, the Almighty cursed them by sending
upon them " such tribulation as was not since the be-
ginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt.,
xxiv, 21.) All this would immediately precede Christ's
coming, and therefore we conclude He came immediately
after these events — i. e., at the destruction of Jerusalem,
A. D. 70.
In Matthew, xxiv, 14, Christ says, " The gospel must
be preached to all the world," (meaning as it existed in
his day,) "for a witness unto all nations, and then shall
the end come." (Not the end of the world, but of the
Primitive Church and Jewish nation. They were judged,
both quick and dead, at Christ's coming.)
Paul records the universal publication of the gosjDel
thus: Rom., i, 8, "Your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world," (meaning the world as it existed in his
day.) Rom., x, 18, Your faith is spoken of " unto the
ends of the world." Rom., xvi, 26, "That he had made
known the Gospel to all nations." Col., i, 23, That the
Gospel was "preached to every creature under heaven,"
whereof he was a minister. I Thess., i, 8, "Your faith is
spoken of in every place." II Thess., i, 3, "Your faith
groweth exceedingly." II Tim., iv, 17, That he had
34
preached the Gospel unto " all the Gentiles." And there-
fore, on the words of Jesus Christ that the end should
come immediately after the universal publication of the
Gospel, we conclude the end did come — i. e., the end of
the primitive Church and Jewish nation, which He judged
at His second coming.
The coming of Antichrist is predicted before Christ's
coming, in Matt., xxiv, 5, 11, 24; in II Thess., ii, 3; in
n Tim., iii, 1-9. 13 ; in II Pet., ii, 1, 2 ; in II Pet., ii. 3,
4; in I John, iv, 1, and Jude, 18, 19. In I John, ii, 18,
19, 22, and I John, iv, 3, we are told that Antichrist has
come, whereby " we know it is the last time," thereby
meaning that John and his contemporaries knew they
were on the verge of Christ's coming, because the appear-
ance of Antichrist was the sure sign that Christ would
speedily appear. John wrote about A. D. 69, or a year
before the destruction of Jerusalem.
"Behold, he cometh with clouds," (Rev., i, 7,) "and
every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced
Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
Him." Christ, at His first coming, was crucified at Jeru-
salem amid the scoffs of the world. At His second com-
ing He stood over Jerusalem "in the clouds of heaven,"
judging " the quick and dead," (see II Tim , iv, 1-3,) and
they, i. e., "the quick and dead," did see His coming
" with power and great glory." " For as the lightning
cometh out of the east," says Christ (Matt., xxiv, 27,)
"and shineth even unto the west," so shall the coming of
the Son of Man be, i. e., it was an instantaneous event
"in the clouds of heaven." He came "with His mighty
35
angels," (see II Thes., i, 7-10,) like a thief at night,
snatched the righteous part of the primitive Church, and
the righteous dead of past ages, and hurried with them
into glory. Perhaps the memory of His sufferings here
below haunted Him, and He tarried not ! He came like
a mighty rushing wind, judged the wicked, took His own,
and back He went to the bosom of the Father.
This was the first resurrection and first judgment, cor-
responding to the Jewish and Gentile dispensations.
The Jews, as a nation, had their judgment at the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, and the Gentiles will have theirs at
the end of the world.
Peter's idea (11 Pet., iii, 10-12,) that Christ's coming
and the " burning up " of this physical universe are simul-
taneous events, (and that is the popular idea about Christ's
coming,) we are obliged to reject, in view of his record,
as uninspired. He alone had that idea. Christ and Paul
and John taught it not. And yet, even Peter expected
the coming of Christ within the lifetime of his contempo-
raries. In I Pet., iv, 7, he says, "The end of all things
is at hand," i. e ,1 expect the speedy coming of Christ ;
in II Pet., i, 16, he speaks of the "coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ ;" in 11 Pet., iii, 10, " the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night ;" in II Pet., iii, 12,
" looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day
of God."
We live eighteen hundred years after Peter, and this
globe has not burned yet. And therefore we conclude his
idea that Christ's coming, and the burning up of this
earth are simultaneous events, savors of the things of
36
man, and not of God. Peter was a bold, impulsive, un-
learned man. In many things "he was to be blamed."
Paul " withstood him to the face " Peter " rebuked " the
Master. No other disciple had the impudence to do that.
He thrice solemnly denied the son of Man in the dark-
est hour of his life on earth ! In Luke, xxii, 31, 32,
Christ says to Peter, "Behold, Satan hath desired to have
you, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." In
Eph., ii, 7, Paul says, "That in the ages to come He
(i. e., God) might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus," which
opposes Peter's idea that the "burning up of the earth,"
and Christ's coming (which he himself believed was at
hand when on earth) are simultaneous events. We be-
lieve Peter's idea — that Christ's coming and the destruc-
tion of this physical universe are simultaneous events —
has darkened the mind of Christendom these eighteen
centuries, touching His coming, more than anything in
the Bible. If Christ and Paul had had such an idea,
they would have stated it. For eighteen centuries Chris-
tendom has argued thus : "In II Pet., iii, 10-12, it is
said Christ's coming and the 'burning up' of the earth
are simultaneous events. The earth has not burned yet;
therefore, Christ has not yet come. Therefore, we ex-
pect Him, and Christendom for eighteen centuries has
expected Him " — in vain. He never has come (save as
herein stated), and never will.
God wanted to curse the Antichrist part of the primi-
tive Church on account of their unbelief concerning the
37
coming of Christ then at hand, and therefore allowed
Peter's idea to go into the Bible. See II Thess., ii, 11,
and second paragraph on page 49.
Paul's expectations concerning Christ's coming we
gather thus : Rom., xiii, 11, "It is high time to awake
out of sleep ; for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed ;" Rom., xiii, 12, "The night is far spent, the
day is at hand ;" I Cor., i, 7, "Waiting for the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ ;" I Cor., i, 8, "That ye may be
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" I Cor.,
iv, 5, "Judge nothing, before the time, until the Lord
come ;" I Cor., vii. 29, "The time is short," {i. e., I expect
the speedy coming of Christ;) I Cor., xiii, 12, "Now we
see through a glass, darkly ; but then" (referring to
Christ's coming,) "face to face ;" I Cor., xv, 51, "We shall
not all sleep," (meaning thereby that some of Paul's
contemporaries would live till Christ came, i. e., until the
destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70;) II Cor., i, 14, bespeaks
of their rejoicing in "the day of our Lord Jesus;" Phil., i, 6,
"He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ ;" Phil., i, 10, " they are to
be without offence till the day of Christ;" Phil., ii, 16,
"That I may rejoice in the day of Christ;" Phil., iii, 20,
" For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; " Phil., iv, 5,
"The Lord is at hand;" Col., iii, 4, " When Christ, who is
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory;" I Thess., i, 10, he exhorts them to "wait for
God's Son from heaven;" I Thess., ii, 19, "Are not even
ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His com-
38
ing?" I Thess., iii, 13, he speaks of their hearts being
establislied "in holiness before God, even our Father, at
the coming of our Lord Jesns Christ with all His saints;"
I Thess., iv, 15-17, he says, "We which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught iip
together with them (meaning the 'dead in Christ "> in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever
be with the Lord;" I Thess., v. 2, "The day of the Lord
so Cometh as a thief in the night;" I Thess., v, 4, "But ye
brethren are not in darkness, that that day should over-
take you as a thief;" I Thess., v, 6, "Therefore, let us
watch and be sober;" I Thess., v, 23, "I pray God your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" II Thess., i,
7-9, he says that the "Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking
vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall punish them
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power;" II Thess., i, 10, he
speaks of Christ's coming to be glorified in "His saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe in that day;"
thereby meaning the day of Christ's coming, which
occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, when
He judged the primitive Church and Jewish nation. In
n Thess., ii, 1-3, he exhorts them " not to be soon shaken
in mind" on account of the speedy coming "of our Lord
Jesus Christ," and says, " that that day " (meaning the day
of His coming) shall not come until the "man of sin be
revealed." In verse 7 we are told that the mystery of
89
iniquity (^. ^., "the man of sin") doth already work. In
II John, ii, 18, and iv, 3, we again have the fulfilment of
Paul's prediction concerning the appearance of Antichrist
before Christ's coming. II Thess., iii, 5, " The Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient
waiting for Christ." I Tim., vi, 14, "That thou keep this
commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the ap-
pearing of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" II Tim., i, 10, he
speaks of the "appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ :"
II Tim., i, 18, "The Lord grant unto him (Onesiphorus)
that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day" (mean-
ing the day of Christ's coming) "for he oft refreshed me,
and was not ashamed of my chains." In II Tim., iv, 1-
3, Paul says, "That Jesus Christ shall judge the quick
and the dead at His appearing," and exhorts Timothy "to
preach the word in season and out of season," for the
"time would come when they would not eudure sound
doctrine, but after their own lasts follow deceitful teach-
ers having itching ears ;" that they should turn away
their ears from the truth, and "be turned unto fables"
(thereby meaning that Antichrist was abroad, which was
a sure sign that Christ would speedily appear.) II Tim.,
iv. 8, he speaks of a "crown of righteousness" which
Christ would give Him at His coming, and to them also
"who love His appearing." Titus, ii, 13, "Looking for
that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Heb., s, 37.
"For yet a little while, and He that shall come, toill
come, and will not tarry."
James's expectations we gather thus : James, v, 7, "Be
40
patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the
Lord." James, v, 8, "Be ye also patient ; estabhsh your
hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James,
V, 9, "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door."
John wrote in the very last days of the primitive
Chux'ch, and we gather his expectations thus : I John, ii,
18, "Little children (how tenderly he speaks,) it is the
last time (as Christ is about to appear and take us with
Him to glory,) and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall
come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we
know it is the last time." I John, ii, 28, "And now, little
children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we
may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at
His coming." I John, iii, 2, "Beloved, now are we the
sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be ; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
hke Him." I John, iii, 19, "We are of the truth, and
shall assure our hearts before Him."
Jude's expectations we gather thus : Verses 14 and 15,
"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints
to execute judgment upon all." Verse 21, "Keep your-
selves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
We now examine the book of Revelation concerning
Christ's second coming. In Rev., i, 1, we are told the
things therein mentioned "must shortly come to pass;"
in verse 2, " The time is at hand ;" in verse 7, " Behold,
He Cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and
they also which pierced Him, and all kindred of the earth
shall wail because of Him." (See page 34.) In verse 11
41
Jesus Christ says, " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last ;" in verse 18, " I am He that liveth and was
dead ; and behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the
keys of hell and of death ;" in Rev., ii, 5, " Repent, or I
will come unto thee quickly;" in verse 16, " Repent, or I
will come unto thee quickly ;" in verse 25, " That which
ye have already, hold fast till I come ;" in Rev., iii, 3,
" Hold fast and repent," " If thou shall not watch, I will
come on thee as a thief ;" in verse 11, " Behold, I come
quickly ; hold fast what thou hast, that no man take thy
crown;" in verse 20, "Behold I stand at the door and
knock;" in Rev., xiii, 14, "The second woe is past, and
behold, the third one cometh quickly ;" in Rev., xiv, 7,
" Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of judg-
ment is come ;" " and worship Him that made heaven
and earth, aud the sea and the fountains of waters ;" in
verse 15, " Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is
come for thee to reap ;" in Rev., xvi, 15, " Behold I come
as a thief;" in Rev., xix, 7, " The marriage of the Lamb
is come ;" in Rev., xxii, 6, He speaks of things which
" must shortly be done ;" in verse 7, " Behold, I come
quickly;" in verse 10, "The time is at hand;" in verse
12, " Behold, I come quickly to reward every man accord-
ing as his work shall be ;" in verse 13, " I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."
The very last words Jesus Christ says in the Bible are,
(Rev., xxii, 20,) "Surely I come quickly. Even so."
Says John, " Come, Lord Jesus."
We have now examined every verse in the New Testa-
ment touching Christ's second coming. Can any rational
42
mind doubt but Jesus Christ saif? He would "come again "
within the lifetime of his contemporaries; that Paul and
the leaders of the Primitive Church expected Him, and
that, as a matter of fact, He did come at the destruction
of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, " in the clouds of heaven, with
power and great glory," and judge the entire race, except
those then living on earth ; (and even soon some of these
were taken. See page 48, first paragraph ; also page 27.)
In the interest of a sound theology it is of the utmost
importance to know the truth about Christ's second
coming. It is useless for Christendom to hope and pray
for His coming, because it is a fact already accomplished.
They may as well look it square in the face and adapt
their faith and conduct to the fact. It is believed these
views are destined to revolutionize the theology of eigh-
teen centuries. Christendom must have a 7)eii' theology —
a theology to fit the fact that Christ came A. D. 70.
The great practical effect of this doctrine will be to
establish the faith of Christendom in the Bible This
doctrine throws a calcium light upon the New Testament.
It illuminates its otherwise mysterious words, verses, and
chapters. No one can understand the Bible without
this view of the second coming. It is a living stream of
water running through the New Testament. This doc-
trine is the missing link, uniting Primitive Christianity
with modern Christianity, and, it is believed, Holy Ghost
power will come to the church by a belief in this doctrine.
Thousands have rejected the Bible, to their eternal death,
on account of its apparent inconsistency, not knowing the
truth concerning Christ's second coming.
43
This doctrine e7ids the communion : " Do this," says
Christ, "in remembi'ance of me, till I come." If we
behold His coming eighteen centuries in the past, an ordi-
nance commemorating Him as a conquering hero would
be appropriate.
A correct knowledge of Christ s second coming is almost
as important as a knowledge of His first coming. At His
first coming He was crucified at Jerusalem amid the scoffs
of the world. At His second coming He was a conquer-
ing hero. He then stood over Jerusalem "in the clouds
of heaven," judging the " quick and dead."
Judgment, says Paul, comes first to the Jews ; then to
the Gentiles. At Christ's second coming God not only
judged the entire human race, except those then on earth,
but He especially judged the Jewish nation, destroying its
nationality. For two thousand years, i. e., since God's
covenant with Abraham, He had sent upon the Jewish
nation the rain and sunshine of religious discipline,
and the harvest was reaped at Christ's second coming.
For nearly two thousand years, i. e., since Christ came,
A. D. 70, the Gentiles have been under God's care, and
the Gentile harvest must now be near at hand. We
believe we are living in " the dispensation of the fullness
of times " (Eph., i, 10 ; Eom., xi, 25 ;) that the second
resurrection and final judgment are in the near future,
which will end the Gentile harvest.
At the final judgment Christ will judge the world from
His throne in heaven, and He has no need to return to
earth for any purpose. It is not necessary, or even
desirable, that Christ should return to earth again.
44
When He was here He was badly treated. Heaven is a
thousand times better than this sin-cursed earth. We
submit, that our friends of the Prophetic Conference are
in the dark, and we offer them this book, as the only
rational solution of this matter.
We epitomize the history of the race thus: Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Christ's birth, Christ's death and resur-
rection, Christ's second coming, A. D. 70. Christ's sec-
ond coming is the pivotal fact of history. Standing on it
we gaze up and down the ages. We look back to Adam,
and forward to the present. Hereafter we shall review
history, standing on Christ's coming A. D. 70, as the
greatest fact of history.
In conclusion, men like John the Baptist, Paul the
Apostle, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, have been the
world's reformers. Every one of them was a reformer,
because he was a theologian who believed, and preached,
and fought for the pure doctrines of the Word of God.
CHRISTIANITY REVIEWED SINCE A. D. TO.
This was written in August and September, 1878.
I
CHRISTIANITY REVIEWED SINCE
A. D. 70.
IN the last section we showed that Christ came for the
second time at the destnictiou of Jerusalem, A. D. 70;
that he then judged the entire race, except those on
earth at the moment of His appearing at the siege of
Jerusalem ; and that the preaching of Paul and the other
apostles was a preparation for their judgment at that sec-
ond coming. We also showed that Jerusalem was de-
stroyed A. D. 70, bj' Titus, a Roman general, and that
the "wars and rumors of wars," the Antichrists, the fam-
ines, the pestilences, the earthquakes, the great tribula-
tions, the universal publication of the Gospel, etc., spoken
of by the Evangelists as events preceding Christ's com-
ing, all came to pass prior to His coming, i. e., prior to
the destruction of Jerusalem.
We now propose to review Christianity on the basis of
Christ's second coming, at the destruction of Jerusalem,
A. D 70.
Josephus, and other historians, make no mention of
Christ's appearing at the destruction of Jerusalem, be-
cause it was an event "in the clouds of heaven " directly
over Jerusalem.
At the time Jerusalem was destroyed most of Christ's
followers had gone within the vail. Over eleven hundred
thousand Jews perished at the siege of Jerusalem, and the
abduction of a few despised individuals at such a time of
48
carnage would attract no attention. Josephus and the
historians were too busy recording what happened on
earth to record what happened "in the clouds of heaven."
Besides, how could Josephus see what was going on "in
the clouds ?" " The world seeth me no more," said Christ,
with special reference to His second coming. His coming
in judgment was an event in the spiritual, and not in the
natural world. His appearing "in the clouds of heaven,"
at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the slaughter of
eleven hundred thousand Jews, was the outward sign of
that spiritual judgment, in which the Almighty judged
the entire race, excej)t those living on earth at the
destruction of Jerusalem. All who had lived on the
earth, and died, were judged at Christ's second coming,
at the siege of Jerusalem, A. D. 70.
There were two classes * in the Primitive Church — those
that expected Christ's coming and those that did not. An
individual's belief or disbelief in His coming decided His
final destiny. He appeared at the siege of Jerusalem
"with His mighty angels," to those who were looking for
Him, and took them to glory. To those who looked not
for Him He came not. They were left on earth, and
their seed has represented Christianity all these ages.
They were the unfaithful servants of whom Christ so
often spake.
On nearly every page of the New Testament, we find
the speedy coming of Christ " in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory," held up by the Evangelists,
* "There shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and
the other left." (See Matthew, xxiv, 40 to 45.)
49
and especially by the Apostle Paul, as an event which
would give to the " saints " of the Primitive Church, and
the righteous dead of past ages, a secure and glorious
redemption. It was the consummation of their effort, the
reward of their faith and devotion to the Master ; and
yet, for eighteen centuries, Christendom has known it
not.
The very curse Paul says (II Thess., ii., 11) should come
upon the church, has been upon it since Christ came, A.
D. 70. " And for this cause," says Paul (thereby mean-
ing the unbelief of the Antichrist part of the Primitive
Church, concerning Christ's coming, then close at hand,)
" God shall send them," (meaning the Antichrist part of
the Primitive Church, and which Christianity since has
represented,) " strong delusion," that they should " be-
lieve a lie ;" and Christendom, for eighteen centuries,
has not known the truth touching Christ's second coming.
The reason they have not known it, is because it was the
Antichrist part of the Primitive Church which Christ left
on earth when He judged the race at the siege of Jerusa-
lem. It is this apostate Christianity that has assumed to
represent Christ all these ages. As they forsook the
coming of the Lord, so has the church, commonly called
Christian, done in all ages. The Christianity of Paul's
church was wonderfully different in spirituality and Holy
Ghost power from any church since his time.
As we read the history of this apostate Christianity,
we are appalled at the record. And herein we find an
unanswerable confirmation of our doctrine of Christ's
second coming. Our doctrine shows that Christ's second
50
coming occurred at the siege of Jerusalem, A. D. 70 ; that
he then took the '' saints " of the Primitive Church, and
the righteous dead of past ages to glory, a7id left the
unrighteous 2yart of said cfuirch ; and that this fact ac-
counts for the terrible record of Christianity during the
" dark ages." At that time, Christ transferred -ff/s interest
in the church which He founded, from earth to heaven,
and He is in no way responsible for the doiugs of the
apostate part of that church since. It is a terrible libel
on Christ to make Him in oxlj way responsible for the
iniquity of that apostate Church during the ^ dark
ages. " It was this Apostate Church that Martin Luther
and his associates sought to reform.
We now propose to glance briefly through the record
of this Apostate Church, to the end, that we may show
the wickedness of its pretensions.
From the siege of Jerusalem to Martin Luther, covers
a period of fifteen long and weary centuries. During
these " dark ages " the Almighty seems to have with-
drawn all interest in human affiiirs. Nothing can equal
the ignorance, superstition and licentiousness of that
time. In the so-called Christian Church, and out of it,
iniquity was rampant. Many volumes have been written
portraying the horrors of this dark period of the world's
history ; but it is not our purpose now to enter into the
details of that polluted period. We desire only to pre-
sent a general view of the world during the fifteen cen-
turies preceding the coming of Martin Luther, to the
end, we may appreciate the work he and his associates
51
acccomplished during the reformation of the sixteenth
century.
After a time the apostates whom Christ left on earth
grew mighty, and assumed by His authority full power
over the body, soul, and estate of their deluded victims.
They propagated this fanaticism with so much success that
vast multitudes adhered to them, and they were known
as the Church of Rome. The ringleader of this delusion
was called a Ponti£f. In time, he and his cardinals,
bishops, and underlings, grew rich and all-powerful.
They claimed to be the visible representatives of the
" dear Lord " on earth, and to have the keys of heaven
and hell, and to do all things by His authority. In the
course of a few centuries, these apostates grew immensely
rich and correspondingly sensual and corrupt. The
worst thing about it was, that they should carry on their
iniquity in the name of " the meek and lowly Jesus, " who
had not where to " lay His head " while He tarried here
below.
About the commencement of the sixteenth century
these lordly Pontiffs became so corrupt and oppressive
that the people demanded a reform, and Mr. Martin
Luther, a poor and obscure monk, offered his service.
It is almost impossible for us of the nineteenth century
to realize the horrible superstition, fanaticism, and licen-
tiousness which oppressed the people at the commence-
ment of the sixteenth century. When the time came, in
the Providence of God, for Luther to strike these corrupt
Pontiffs, he struck them with tremendous power. He
even startled himself, but he dare not draw back. He
52
stuck close to God, the Father, and He helped him
through.
The powers and emoluments of the Pontiff at this time
were almost incredible. He had his emissaries all over
his dominions, gathering " lucre " into his treasury, that
he and his co-scoundrels might live in gorgeous palaces,
surrounded by luxury and lust. He claimed, and the
people believed, he had Divine authority to grant indul-
gence to commit the most horrible crimes, and to gratify
the most lustful propensities. He sent one Tetzel into
Saxony, the home of Luther, to sell these indulgences,
and this brazen fellow aroused Luther's indignation, and
set him to thinking. This thinking was the beginning of
a reformation which set all Germany in motion, and
proved of incalculable value to the race.
It was a bold thing for Martin Luther to strike the
Roman Pontiff. In doing it he pierced the tradition and
wisdom of fifteen centuries. During all this time the
Pontiffs had been growing rich and mighty, and it seemed
like madness for a poor and obscure monk to oppose
them. For three years Luther stood alone. " Not a
soul, " he says, " for three years extended the hand of
fellowship." After that his views began to prevail, and
then, " every one," he says, " wanted to share in the tri-
umph." Little by little, the best minds of Germany sur-
rounded Luther, and thereafter success was established.
Germany had long groaned under the spiritual despo-
tism of the Eoman Pontiff, and it was ripe for a reforma-
tion.
Luther was God's man for this reformation. His genius
53
was truly great ; his memory vast and tenacious ; his pa-
tience incredible ; his magnanimity invincible and un-
shaken by the vicissitudes of human affairs ; and his
learning most extensive for the age in which he lived.
From this reformation came the Evangelical or Luth
eran Church, so named in honor of its founder, Martin
Luther, who sought to restore to its native lustre the Gos-
pel of Christ, which had been for ages covered with the
darkness of superstition. His followers were moved to call
the new church lAitheran^ in response to a natural senti-
ment of gratitude to him by whose ministry the clouds of
superstition had been chiefly dispelled, and who had
pointed out to them the " Son of God as the only proper
object of trust to miserable mortals."
The rise of the Lutheran Church dates from that re-
markable period when Pope Leo X drove Luther and his
friends from the bosom of the Roman hierarchy, by a
solemn and violent sentence of excommunication. From
that time it has gradually assumed the dignity of a law-
ful and complete church, totally independent of the laws
and jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiffs
The leading doctrine of the Lutheran Church was that
the Scriptures are the " infallible rule of faith and prac-
tice."
It was the work of Luther and his associates to rescue
the Bible from the Roman Pontiffs. The Bible was ex-
ceedingly scarce at that time, and the few copies extant
were kept under lock and key by the Pontiffs. Luther
translated the Bible into German. He also inundated
Germany with pamphlets on Biblical subjects. His great
54
doctrine was ^^ fTusti/icatwn hy faith in Christ^ He set
the people to studying the Word of God. The more
they examined it, the less power the Pontiffs had over
them. Little by little their power was gone ; not only in
Germany, but in England, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and
France — in fact, wherever their spiritual dominions
extended.
Next to Luther, as a reformer, stood Philip Melaucthon.
After Luther's death, which happened in 1546, at the
age of 63, Melancthon became head of the Lutheran
Church. He was a man of different stamp from Luther.
Not so vehement, but more learned. His genius and
culture were extraordinary. He differed with Luther on
some important points, but otherwise they were in full
sympathy. He was of the opinion that many things in
the Roman Church might be tolerated, which Luther con-
sidered as absolutely insupportable. This diversity of
views, after Luther's death, created internal dissensions
in the church, and caused much trouble.
If our doctrine, to wit, that Christ's second coming
occurred at the siege of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, had been
known to Luther and his associates, it would have saved
them a vast deal of trouble, and many long and wearisome
and useless controversies. So with all the great church-
men of the past. They all missed the truth which it has
pleased God, the Father, to reveal through us. The
church records are full of controversies touching the
Lord's Supper, the communion, etc., all subjects relating
to Christ's second coming.
Christ said, " Do this," to wit, the Lord's Supper,
55
" TILL I COME, in remembrance of me." This holds good
only till He comes. The church all these ages has not
known of His coming at the siege of Jerusalem, A. D.
70, and consequently has been taught to expect Him, and
to commemorate His coming by the sacrament of the
"Lord's Supper." Whereas, in fact and in truth, He
came at the destruction of Jerusalem A. D. 70, and
therefore, the exhortation to " do this " (to wit, the Lord's
Supper,) " till I come," is wholly irrelevant.
Christ, at His first coming, was crucified at Jerusalem
amid the scofifs of the world. At His second coming He
was a conquering hero. He then stood over Jerusalem,
in the "clouds of heaven" judging " the quick and dead;"
and therefore, an ordinance commemorating Him as a
CONQUERING liero, is only appropriate.
Since the Reformation Christianity has been divided and
subdivided and redivided,into the thousand and one isms
that curse it to-day. Notwithstanding this, Christianity
has done great good, and we are profoundly thankful for
what it has accomplished. Its ascent out of the pollution
and superstition of the " dark ages " has been accom-
plished little by little, and by painful effort. The Chris-
tianity of to-day represents the faith and tears and con-
flicts of the Fathers. From time to time they have
appeared with new light, pi'opelling it onward and up-
ward.
We now propose to interview some of these Fathers.
And first comes John Calvin. He had some new ideas.
From him came Presbyterian ism.
As we glance through the records of church history
56
since the Reformation, we are astonished at the trouble
and dissensions the Fathers have had from not knowing
the truth about Christ's second coming. It has caused
them more trouble than anything else. The greatest and
wisest men in the church for eighteen centuries have not
understood Christ's saying: "If I will that he (John)
tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" This refers to
Christ's coming within the lifetime of his contemporaries,
to wit, at the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. The
church Fathers have given it all sorts of interpretations
except the true one. Not even our keen friend, Mr.
Calvin, saw it.
The Presbyterians of this age are so eminently respect-
able that we shall trespass upon our time somewhat to
give a condensed view of the great work of their founder,
John Calvin. Calvin was born in 1509, and was bred to
the law. As a student his success was " most rapid and
amazing." He acquired the knowledge of religion by a
diligent perusal of the Scriptures, and early saw the neces-
sity of " reforming the established system of doctrine and
worship." His zeal exposed to him various perils, and
his connection with the friends of the Reformation, who
were frequently committed to the flames, placed him more
than once in imminent danger ; but out of it all he was
delivered.
Calvin had some new ideas concerning the decrees of
God, respecting the eternal condition of men, and they
stirred the people immensely. He maintained that the
everlasting condition of mankind in the future world was
determined from all eternity by the unchangeable order
57
of the Deity, and that this absolute determination of His
will and good pleasure was tbe only source of happiness
or misery to every individual. He propagated his opinion
by his writings, and by public discussions, and by the
"ministry of his disciples." In time it was inserted in
the national creeds, and " thus made a public article of
faith."
Although in sympathy with Luther and the work of
reformation, Calvin had some ideas of his own, and he
pushed out for himself. He now had a large following,
and they were known as the Reformed Church. He set-
tled at Geneva, in Switzerland, where he acquired the
greatest reputation and authority. He surpassed all the
divines of his age in laborious application, force of elo-
quence, and extent of genius. He was the head of the
Reformed Church in Geneva, and also acquired great in-
fluence in the political administration of that republic. His
views and projects were grand and extensive. He not
only undertook to give strength and vigor to the rising
church, by strict discipline, but proposed to render Geneva
the mother of all Reformed Churches, as Wittenberg was
of all Lutheran Churches. He proposed to establish a
theological seminary for the instruction of ministers, who
were to propagate the Protestant cause through the most
distant nations. He proposed to render the government,
discipline, and doctrine of Geneva the model to be fol-
lowed by all the Reformed Churches in the world ; and he
in great part succeeded in the execution of this grand
scheme. His fame and learning induced many persons
of rank and fortune to settle at Geneva. Many others
58
came out of curiosity to hear the discourses which he
dehvered in public. Studious youths came from all |[3arts
to the Geneva University, and its fame extended every-
where. By this means Calvin propagated his doctrine all
through Europe. In the midst of this activity he died
in the year 1564.
In August, 1878, there met in this very city of Geneva,
in a hall dedicated to Calvin, the International Conven-
tion of Young Men's Christian Associations. They came
from the Protestant churches of all lands to confer as to
the best methods of pushing the Master's work. I won-
der what Calvin would have said if he could have spoken
to them, assembled, as they were, in his old home at
Geneva. Methinks he would have seen the travail of his
soul and wept for joy.
In these latter days these Christian Associations have
done a vast work in rescuing souls from perdition. About
forty years ago the first one was established in London,
England, by Mr. George Williams, a retired merchant.
(He was present and took am active part at the Geneva
Conference.) Since then they have multiplied in all
directions. At this moment there are two thousand of
these associations in different parts of the world. May
God bless them and their workers.
HADES AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT.*
This was written in January, 1878.
HADES AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
WHEN Christ appeared at the destruction of Jerusa-
lem, A. D. 70, the entire human race (save those
then living on earth) were judged ; i. e., the " sheep "
were separated from the "goats;" ^. e., the righteous
went to heaven and the wicked to eternal punishment.
Prior to this resurrection and judgment, the entire human
race (^. e., the dead part of it) were in Hades, awaiting
their resurrection and judgment, which took place when
Christ appeared at the des-truction of Jerusalem.
What kind of a place is Hades ? We answer, Hades
is the resting-place of the dead. It is the place where
the dead (both righteous and wicked) await their final
disposition, the righteous being detained for heaven, and
the wicked for eternal punishment.
The Bible characterizes the inhabitants of Hades as in
a state of sleep (Dan., xii, 2 ; I Cor., xv, 51,) but they are
not in a state of absolute unconsciousness. They are
simply withdrawn from the world of sense, like a person
in ordinary slumber. They are in the soul of the uni-
verse instead of the body. Their operation on the sur-
face ceases at death. Their sleep is opposed to the visi-
ble activity of this world, and also to the perfect activity
of the resurrection world. After Christ's crucifixion He re-
mained in Hades three days, and then He ascended to the
Father. Before He ascended He appeared to His disci-
ples and said, " All power is given to me, in heaven and
61
62
on earth," i. e., He entered upon a career of activity in
both worlds. The saints in Hades sleep until their resur-
rection, when they, too, will be active in both worlds.
The " saints " are said to " sleep in the dust of the earth,"
because their abode is not in heaven, but in Hades ; i. e.,
until their resurrection.
Hades and mortality {L e., this world) may be com-
pared to two apartments on the same floor of a house.
Heaven, or God's home, is the floor above. The resur-
rection is a transit to God's home. It is not a transit from
one apartment to another. Enoch and Elijah passed into
Hades by translation. And Lazarus returned from Hades
at the call of Christ. Christ ascended out of Hades at the
call of God. This same mighty power will at last draw
"all men to Christ," (John, xii, 32,) the righteous as well
as the wicked. The dead, small and great, must stand
before God. The Paradise of Hades is not the final
abode of the righteous. They are to be brought up for
judgment and then pass into the kingdom of the Father.
Hades is not the final abode of the wicked. They, too,
must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and then
pass into the lake of fire which burns for ever and ever.
(Rev., XX, 10-15 ; and xxi, 8.)
As the entire human race {i. e., the dead part of it)
prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, were
detained in Hades, awaiting their resurrection and judg-
ment, so the inhabitants of this earth, since A. D. 70,
have been detained in Hades awaiting their resurrection
and judgment, which will take place at the end of the
world.
63
Paul (he was executed A D. 68) only waited two years
in the Paradise of Hades after his death for his '• crown,"
i. e., till Christ came, A. D. 70. Abraham,* however, was
compelled to wait two thousand years.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
Judgment, says Paul, comes first to the Jews, then to
the Gentiles. For nearly two thousand years — i. e , since
Christ judged the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem
— the Gentiles have been under God's care, and the Gen-
tile judgment must be near at hand.
The judgment of the Gentiles and the destruction of
this physical universe will be simultaneous events.
Once God said, "Let the earth be created," and it was
created. Some day, in His own good time. He will say,
"Let the earth be destroyed," and it will be destroyed.
[For the predicted fate of the earth, see page 96.]
When icill this earth end ?
* lu Luke, xvi, 19-31, we are told that a rich man interviewed
Abraham, and thereby learn that Hades i.s composed of two wards
— the one for the righteous ; the other for the wicked. Abraham
was in the righteous ward, i. e., in the Paradise of Hades; and the
rich man in the wicked ward, i. e., in Hell. "And the rich man
lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Father Abraham afar
off," and told him that he had " brethren," and he wished to warn
them to keep out of this place of torment. He was told that when
he was on earth he had the good things of life, and Lazarus the
evil things, and that his "brethern" would not believe in Moses
and the Prophets, and thereby escape ^is fate, "though one rose
from the dead."
64
We answer, when the Gospel has been preached to all
men.
The exploits of Livingston and Stanley show that the
light of this century is beginning to shine even in be-
nighted Africa, and the time must be near, with the elec-
tric flash encircling the globe, when it can be said that
the Gospel has been preached to all men. Then, accord-
ing to Christ, the end will come. This earth had a
beginning, and it will have an ending. To individuals
it ends at death. To you and to me, my friends, it
matters little when it ends if we have Christ ; without
Him we must perish.
A REPLY TO ATTACKS ON THE BIBLE-*
This was written in January, 1878.
A KEPLY TO ATTACKS ON THE BIBLE.
THE Bible is the record of God's dealings with man
By it He spoke to the Jewish nation. By it Christ
and the apostles thunder their proclamations across the
ages since the destruction of Jerusalem, and on it we
base our hope of eternal life.
In our defence of the Bible we shall review parts of it
and attempt to show what it teaches.
"In the beginning," we read, "God created the heavens
and the earth and all things that dwell therein, and pro-
nounced it very good;" that He made man "in His own
image," and gave him "a wife;" that he put the man and
the woman into the Garden of Eden, and gave the man
full dominion over all created things. And God com-
manded the man, saying, " Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat ; but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." We also read that
Satan, in the form of a serpent, said unto the woman,
"Ye can eat, and ye shall not die;" that thereupon the
woman ate the forbidden fruit, and then induced the man
to eat. That, soon thereafter, the " Lord God called unto
Adam, and said. Where art thou ? Hast thou eaten of
the tree whereof I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt
not eat?" The man said, "I did eat," and blamed it on
the woman, and the woman blamed it on the serpent.
Now what happened ?
68
And the Almighty was angry ; He cursed the man, the
woman, and the serpent ; He pronounced a special curse
upon each.
When Adam sinned, he threw himself into the arms of
the devil. His posterity, in consequeuce of his surrender,
came into being under a law of gravitation towards sin
and death. We hold that a part of mankind are not only
born under the power of " the wicked one," but are of his
seed, and that their destination is perdition. We also
hold that another part of mankind are of Christ's seed,
and that their destination is heaven. " My sheep," says
Christ, "hear mj voice." The reason some people must
be damned is because they have no ear to hear the Gospel
of God's reconciliation with man, through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the death and resurrec-
tion of Christ, God became reconciled to human nature,
and what the race lost by Adam's fall they gained by the
ascension of Christ. Jesus Christ, by His death and resur-
rection, overcame the devil. He released man from his
grasp, and thereby destroyed the cause of all sin, and
thereby reconciled human nature to God. The effect of
this action on them that believe is to release them from
the power of sin ; on them that believe not, to consign
them with the devil to eternal damnation. No one will
be damned without a chance to believe on Christ. If they
reject Christ they must be damned. It is their fault ; not
God's.
" But," says a noted infidel (and this is his great point,)
" hell being such a terrible, awful place, and God being so
very good, He won't send any one' there." We answer,
69
God must sustain His government. Heaven is for the
righteous. Hell for the wicked, Heaven would be a hell,
if the wicked could get into it. Hell is for the devil's
seed ; heaven for Christ's seed.
This infidel denies the immortality of the soul.
" I am willing to give up heaven," he says, " to get rid
of hell."
We prove the immortality of the soul thus: We read
"that the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man
became a living soul." (Gen., ii, 7.) Man, therefore,
was composed of two substances, the dust of the ground
and the breath of life, ^. e., matter and spirit.
We hold that " a spirit is a fluid. That it has many of
the properties of caloric, electricit}', galvanism, and mag-
netism. That it has also the power of assimilation,
growth, and self-originating motion. That it has person-
ality, feeling, intelligence, and will." When Adam was
created, the Almighty breathed this vital fluid into Adam's
body, and he then became a living soul. As soon as this
vital fluid (or the Almighty's breath) entered into Adam's
dust-formed body, it partook of the shape of that body ;
i, e., it became congealed, and ever afterwards retained
the form and shape of that body.
The prime element of the soul is this, vital fluid which
emanated from the Almighty, and it is this eternal spirit
which makes the soul indestructible. " He that believeth
on me," says Christ, "shall never die." Why? Because
the life of the soul and body are one. The soul lives after
it has left the body. Evei'y human being is destined for
70
heaven or perdition ; because they have a soul, and that
is immortal.
About a thousand years after Adam, we read that God
saw that " the wickedness of man was great," and He re-
pented " that He had made man," and said, " I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth."
There was only one righteous man in all the world. His
name was Noah. "And God said unto Noah, the end of
all flesh is come ; " make thee an ark, for I am going " to
destroy all flesh." And Noah did as the Lord commanded.
Now what ? After Noah and his family and his property
were safely in the ark, " the fountains of the great deep
were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,"
and the rain descended in torrents for forty days and
forty nights, and every living thing on earth was de-
stroyed — save Noah and his ark.
The point of this story is that God kept His word, and
He always keeps His word.
What next? A thousand years after Noah came Abra-
ham. "And God said to Abraham, get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers
house, unto a land that I shall show thee ; and I will
make of thee a great nation ; and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing ; and
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curs-
eth thee ; and in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed." (Gen., xii, 1-3.) Now what? "And Abraham
did as the Lord had spoken." Abraham's obedience was
the foundation of God's favor. The Old Testament is
71
the record of God's dealings with Abraham and his seed
for two thousand years, i. e., till the birth of Christ.
The New Testament, which is a record of Christ's life
and principles, is simply a continuation of God's dealings
with mankind. Christ endorsed the Old Testament in
every possible way. He always spoke of it with the ut-
most respect, and said He came not to destroy " the lawj
but to fulfil it."
Infidels say the Old Testament is a horrible book, be-
cause it tells of the wickedness of the Jews; that it
records murders, wars, rapine, and evils of all kinds.
We answer, the Jewish nation contained bad people as
well as good. "■ There were vessels of honor and dis-
honor" in that great nation. God's writers in the sacred
volume put the bad in as a warning and reproof to the
race.
But the New Testament concerns us more than the Old.
We analyze the New Testament thus:
In order to the full exhibition of Christianity it was
necessary there should be: 1. A history of the life of
Christ. This we have in the four gospels. 2. A sketch
of what followed His resurrection. This we have in the
Book of Acts. 3. A systematic exposition of the theory
of redemption founded on the death and resurrection of
Christ. This we have in the epistles of Paul. 4. A code
of morality with injunctions and warnings against error.
This we have in the whole New Testament. 5. An exhi-
bition of the mature results of Christian faith. This we
have in the first epistle of John. 6. A sketch of the
72
futurity of Christ's kingdom. This we have in the book
of Revelation.
The New Testament is just what we might suppose it
would be, on the assumption that Jesus of Nazareth was
what He pretended to be, viz., "God manifested in the
flesh." The Bible, and especially the New Testament, is
the visible link connecting God with man — this world
with eternity.
SOME REASONS WHY MANY PERSONS ARE
GOING DOWN TO PERDITION.*
* This was written in September, 1879. Perdition is the final
abode of the lost, as Heaven is the final abode of the redeemed.
The intermediate state is Hades. Hades is composed of two wards —
one (for the righteous) called "Paradise," the other, " Hell." If
one reaches Hell he is sure to reach Perdition. If one reaches
Paradise he is sure to reach Heaven. Hades was emptied when
Christ appeared, A. D. 70, and will be again at the final resurrec-
tion and judgment at the end of the world.
SOME REASONS WHY MANY PERSONS
ARE GOING DOWN TO PERDITION.
THE possibilities of human existence are appalling.
Millions and millions of individuals have come and
are coming into this world without any agency of their
own. If most persons could have their choice I imagine
they would keep out of it. And yet this is a magnificent
world. It is full of beauty and blessings. On all sides
happiness awaits us. God is wonderfully good. But
man, in his fallen state, has brought vast evils upon the
race, and we propose to show why many persons are
going down to perdition. The possibility of such a con-
dition is terrible; but I believe it is true, and I shall
attempt to show that it is true.
Many persons are going down to perdition because
they do not realize that there is such a place. We are
told by a distinguished gentleman (he from Illinois) that
there is no perdition. And we are told it with the sneer
and power of a sharp-tongued orator ; and many persons
are in doubt whether there really is such a place. To the
sneers of infidels, Christians appeal to the Bible. If the
Bible is a lie, as some say, the Almighty is back of it, as
they will find to their eternal sorrow some time.
Many men are going down to perdition because all men
by nature are rebels against God. The whole world lieth
in the Wicked One. Only those are saved who find the
Saviour. The rest are doomed to perdition. If the Bible
76
is a lie, the Almighty is back of it. If Christ is an im-
poster, as some say, His awful power at the destruction
of Jerusalem must satisfj^ the most skeptical that the
Almighty is back of Him. For eighteen centuries Chris-
tendom has not known of Christ's appearing in judgment
at the destruction of Jerusalem ; but now that it has been
revealed, it gives awful prestige to Christ's words. Every
prediction He made concerning the destruction of Jerusa-
lem, and the awful overthrow of the Jews was literally
fulfilled. This fact gives an awful prestige to Christ's
words; and it behooves skeptics to look before they re-
sist the Almighty's only Son. The Jews resisted Him
and their city was razed to the ground, and their national
existence destroyed.
From the destruction of Jerusalem to Martin Luther,
covering a period of fifteen long and weary centuries, the
Almighty seems to have withdrawn all interest in human
affairs. With Luther came light. With Calvin came
light. With Wesley came light ; and the race is getting
light rapidly in this nineteenth century. We live in a
fast age ; in an age of steam, electricity, and printing.
The scientific discoveries of this age are appalling. Edi-
son and his co-workers descend upon us like a tornado.
Look at Grant. Twenty years ago he starved in Ga-
lena. The war came and he came. To-day, September,
1879, he strides like a young god over the earth. Who
shall gainsay this little man of destiny ? The extraordi-
nary attention paid him wonderfully indicates the pre-
vailing unification of the race in these latter days.
God is wonderfully gracious. The good and bad alike
77
share in His bounty. At all times the race is under His
protecting care. Nothing is too small for His notice. He
careth for the just and the unjust ; but some time there
will be a reckoning. The small and great, the dead and
living, must stand before the Judge of all, and be sen-
tenced to eternal life or eternal death. This thought is
overpowering. The cares of this world, the lusts of the
flesh, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pride of life,
paralyze the mind,* and we can hardly realize this stu-
pendous fact. Is the soul immortal 1 Is there a heaven ?
Is there a hell ? The Bible says the soul is immortal.
The Bible says there is a heaven. The Bible says there
is a hell ; and that is all we know about it.
As we said at first, the possibilities of human existence
are appalling. The fact of an eternal existence in happi
ness or misery is appalling. And we exclaim, why is it
thus ; and find no answer save in the Bible, and in the
history of the race. If perdition is certain, heaven is also
certain ; and we can reach it by finding the Saviour.
If God is omnipotent why does He not save all men ?
We answer, because they are not savable. Some men
belong to the devil's seed. There are two classes born
into this world : Christ's seed and the devil's seed,
Christ's seed go to heaven, and the devil's seed to perdi-
tion. They could not co-exist. Heaven would be perdi-
tion if the wicked could get into it.
"We have some new ideas on the origin of evil. We
hold that God is not responsible, as is generally sup-
posed, for the evil existing in this world, but that the
devil, His great pei'sonal antagonist, is responsible. We
78
hold that all good comes from God, and all evil from the
devil, and that these two great personal powers have
been fighting for supremacy since the creation of the
world. In the person of Jesus Christ, God and the devil
fought it out, and God partly overcame the devil in that
fight. Christ says, '" whosoever believeth on Him that
sent me hath everlasting life." The devil and his seed
have no disposition to believe, and, therefore, must be
damned. Man is a free agent. He can go to the right
or to the left. He can choose good or evil. He can go
to church or to a saloon, and end in heaven or perdition.
Such a ma»i as Ingersoll says he can't believe in Christ;
that he " can't see it," which is conclusive evidence that
he belongs to the devil's seed, and must go down to
eternal perdition. But it is not God's fault. Not even
God can save the devil's seed. (See " The Two Seeds,"
page 87.)
Many people, at first, hear the Gospel with gladness,
but are swept by the currents of infidelity, worldlines
and sensuality into perdition.
The Gospel takes deep root in the hearts of some peo-
ple, and they become the true followers of the Saviour.
They are the salt of the earth. They build churches,
send missionaries to foreign countries, run Christian and
benevolent associations, and make this world a decent
place to live in. Destroy the influence of this class and
it would be worse than Sodom.
German Rationalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, and
all isms that bewitch one from the simplicity of the
Gospel, as taught by Christ and Paul, are taking men
79
down to perdition. In Luke, xvi, 19-31, we have an
account of a man who got into hell. It is terrible read-
ing, and it reads thus :
" There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in
purple and fiue linen and fared sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was
laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with
the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table ; more-
over, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to
pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the augels
ipto Abraham's bosom. The rich man died also, and was
buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor-
ments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have
mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tor-
mented in this flame. But Abraham said. Son, remember
that thoia in thy lifetime receivedest thy good things, and
likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted,
and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither can they
pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said,
I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send
him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he
may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place
of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses
and the prophets ; let them hear them. And he said.
Nay, Father Abraham ; but if one went unto them from
the dead they will repent. And he said unto him, If
80
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Had this man believed in " Moses and the prophets "
he might have escaped his horrible fate. To-day men are
going down to perdition because they have no saving
faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing short of personal union
with Christ will save a man from the hell recorded in
Luke, xvi, 19-31. We believe, as a matter of fact, that
many persons who expect to go up will go down. Com-
pare the life and principles of the Saviour with the life
and doings of many professed Christians, to say nothing
of the ungodly, and see how they fall short of Christian
character.
Some persons who are going down to perdition:
Whiskey-men, saloon-keepers, whoremongers, prostitutes,
seducers of innocent virtue, wilful liars, theatre-goers,
horse-racers, (and their kind,) tricksters in politics and
business, and bad people of all grades are on the road to
perdition.
This class are going down to an eternity of misery.
This is a terrible, awful fact ; and we would fain save all
we can. All we can do is to point them to the Saviour.
How do you know they are going down to hell ? " By
their fruits ye shall know them." "Whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap." They are sowing to the
wind and they will reap a whirlwind. This class belong
to the devil's seed, and perdition is their destination.
Writers and publishers of light literature are sending
many to perdition. I imagine publishers do not realize
their responsibility in sending out a book. No one can
81
tell the effect of a book. It may save or damn a soul.
Think of such a book as Paine's "Age of Reason," and
all that class of books. Then think how immoral publi-
cations are flooding the land. The details of crime, as
reported in most of the daily papers, are not fit for decent
people to read ; but thousands read them to their sorrow
and ruin. There ought to be a law prohibiting such
publications. They only debauch the public mind.
Our daily papers are greatly responsible for the in-
terest many take in horse-races, foot-races, and other
demoralizing shows. They might exert a strong influ-
ence against it if they were so inclined.
Extravagance is sending many to perdition. "The
love of money," says Paul, "is the root of all evil;" and
he is right. Most persons are on the grab for money.
Day and night they think of money, money, money.
They need money to keep up style, and they get it ; but
at a fearful risk. Some men would sell their soul for a
ten-dollar bill. Think of the Saviour — the greatest and
purest being who ever lived on this globe. He was so
poor He had not where to lay His head. If people
thought less of style and more of their eternal destiny
they would have a chance of reaching heaven. But
money is all some people can see.
The theatres are sending many to perdition. " Do you
think it harmful to go to the theatre ?" Yes, decidedly.
What would you think of the Saviour's elbowing His way
into a theatre to see a half -nude performance? The
drama tends down, not up. Many a man has been
82
<
mined by frequenting theatres. If I had my way I
would close every theatre in the land.
Weak men in the pulpit are sending some down.
I do not like to say anything against the pulpit, as it
represents many pious and able men ; but I must tell
the truth without fear or favor.
HOW MODEEX MINISTERS ARE MADE.
A pious parent, intending his boy for the ministry,
sends him to college, and then to a theological seminary.
If able, a few years' foreign study and travel are added.
Then he is "called," i. e., he is put over a high-toned
church on a large salary. He is expected to deliver two
sermons a week and attend prayers. If a Presbyterian,
he must preach Presbyterianism ; if a Methodist, Meth-
odism. "Whatever the ism of his chui'ch he must preach
it or '"'step down and out." Harassed and harnessed by
the tenets of his church, no wonder that his sermons are
stale. He whines through his discourse, says the prayer,
and the people go home. Under this kind of preaching
the churches often become cold and heartless.
Many people go to church because it is the proper
thing to do. The ladies go to see each others' fine clothes,
and the gentlemen to see the ladies. Holy Ghost preach-
ing is unknown to many modern preachers. Many of
them are after a large salary, with little work, and a gor-
geous church equipage. No wonder there is no power in
the church, and that many persons are going down to
perdition.
We attended the preaching of an alleged divine in Bos-
83
ton about two years ago. Music Hall was packed, and
the alleged preacher whined through a discourse about
"Jesus." We were struck by his personal appearance.
A massive gold chain conspicuously encircled his breast,
and he seemed more interested in fast horses and " buck-
boards" than in saving souls. We were not surprised to
hear of his downfall.
Another distinguished divine, of thirty years* standing,
recently shook two hemispheres by his alleged amorous
exploits. Guilty or not guilty, he certainly was exceed-
ingly indiscreet, and brought vast scandal upon the
church. Onr sensational friend Talmage recently made
a brothel reputation which took him successfully through
Europe. When alleged men of God like these scandalize
religion, who can wonder that many immortal souls are
going down to perdition ?
Let our modern preachers look at Paul, the ablest and
most successful preacher the world ever produced. He
did not settle down on a high-toned church, and whine
through a discourse twice a week, for a large salary. No,
not he. He was after souls.
The people are ready to sustain a live preacher, and, if
our pulpit friends would preach the Gospel, pure and
simple, as Paul did, they would be sustained. They
need not fear the Assembly or the Conference. See how
Moody has shaken things up. No minister of modem
times has been so well sustained, on both sides of the
Atlantic, as Moody.
We knew Moody twelve years ago, when he was the
laughing-stock of Chicago. His zeal was so great for the
84
Master, that he used to go up to strangers, and say, " Do
you love the Lord ? " "Are you for Jesus ? " Most people
do not like to have their personality intruded upon in this
way, and "Brother Moody" was considered by many
people a nuisance. But these weaknesses are forgotten
now. We see the work he has done, and thank God for
Moody. Mr. Moody's knowledge of the Bible is won-
derful; his delivery sparkling; his capacity to tell a
touching story immense ; and herein we see the outward
cause of his success as an evangelist. But the real cause
is that the Lord seems to have a work for him to do.
" Every man to his work " is the law in Christ's kingdom,
and Mr. Moody is doing his work in preparing the world
for their judgment, which we believe is not far distant.
If the Bible is true, our belief that we are rapidly ap-
proaching the Final Judgment is true.
As the Jews could not escape the "wrath of God,"
neither can the Gentiles. " We must all appear before
the judgment-seat of Christ, and be rewarded according
to the deeds done in the body." The reward of those
who patiently continue in well-doing, "and seek for
glory, and honor, and immortality," will be eternal life —
an eternity of bliss. But to those who obey not the
truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.
"Tribulation and anguish," says Paul, "cometh upon
every soul of man that doeth evil." But "glory, honor,
and peace to every soul that worketh good." To the
Jew first and also to the Gentile. The Jews, as a nation,
had their judgment at the destruction of Jerusalem, and
the Gentiles will have theirs at the end of the world.
85
Now that God is drawing near to earth we need the
faith and simplicity and Holy Ghost power of Apostolic
times.
These views ought to unite all who really love the
Saviour in Tabernacle form of worship, doing away with
gorgeous and half-paid-for churches, to the end that the
glory of God in these latter days may cover the earth as
the waters cover the sea. Let us labor and pray for this
grand consummation.
THE TWO SEEDS.
I
* This was written in June, 1881,
THE TWO SEEDS.
C HEIST'S parable of the sower, as recorded in Matthew,
xiii, 37, 38, 39, shows that there are two classes of
humanity born into this world, Christ's seed and the
devil's seed ; that one class are predestined for heaven, and
the other for perdition ; that the final destination of any
individual depends on the source from whence he or she
originated. If they came from Christ's seed, their desti-
nation is heaven. If from the devil's seed, their destina-
tion is perdition.
From this two-fold nature of mankind came John Cal-
vin's idea of predestination. He got this idea, first, from
Christ, and then from Paul ; but he restated it with
marked force, and it stirred the people of his day im-
mensely. (See page 56.)
It is not for us to judge whether an individual belongs
to Christ's seed or the devil's seed. That will be revealed
at the final judgment. But "by their fruits ye shall
know them." If we see a person striving for honor, and
glory, and immortality by patient continuation in well
doing, we may rightfully judge that that soul loves the
Saviour, and is destined for heaven. On the other hand,
if we see a soul carnally minded, and wholly given to
worldliness and sensuality, we may rightfully judge that
such an one belongs to the devil's seed, and is predes-
tined for perdition. An individual may, apparently, be-
long to Christ's seed, and yet, in time of temptation, fall
90
away. His falling is evidence he did not belong to
Christ's seed. On the other hand, an individual may,
apparently, belong to the devil's seed until he hears the
Gospel ; then, he becomes " converted," and commences
a Christian life.
It may be very hard that some individuals should be
predestined for perdition; but it is not God's fault.
This condition of a part of mankind arises from the fact
of the existence of the devil We hold that the devil is
an active personal being, almost co-equal with the Deity,
and that he, like the Deity, existed from all eternity, and
will continue to exist for all eternity. We hold that on
no other ground is it possible to relieve the Deity from
the responsibility of the stupendous evil existing in this
world. We hold that God is not responsible for the evil
existing in this world ; and that He cannot prevent it. If
He could prevent it, and did not. He would be unworthy
of a God. He had the power to create this universe, but
He has not the power to extinguish His uncreated
personal antagonist, the Devil, who, Christ says, "was a
murderer from the beginning," meaning thereby from
the beginning of his uncreated existence. We entirely
repudiate the idea that the Deity created the devil. God
and the devil are both uncreated. They never had a
beginning and they never will have an ending. This
world was manifestly created as a battle-ground for God
and the devil to test their respective power. In the
person of Jesus Christ God and the devil tested their
strength ; and God so far overcame the devil in that
death struggle as to give humanity eternal life, provided
91
humanity would reach for it by faith in Jesus Christ.
By this act of faith God and humanity unite in over-
coming the devil. God holds out His hand, but hu-
manity must seize it or continue in the grasp of the
devil. (See page 68.)
We hold that the Deity is infinitely pure, and wise,
and good, and that He is almost omnipotent, but not
quite ; that He would be entirely omnipotent were it not
for the almost equal cunning and power of His great un-
created antagonist, the devil, or the "Evil One," as the
Kevised New Testament has it.
THE PREDICTED FATE OF THE EARTH.*
* Sunday Magazine.
THE PKEDICTED FATE OF THE
EARTH.
THE Apostle Peter, in his second epistle, announced
the approach of a time when ''the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are
therein, shall be burnt up." What has modern science
to say to the possibility of a catastrophe such as that
shadowed forth in a comparatively unscientific age, eigh-
teen centuries ago ? Mr. R. A. Proctor, writing in his
latest volume, "The Flowers of the Sky," remarks: "It
is no longer a mere fancy that each star is a sun ; science
has made this an assured fact, which no astronomer
thinks of doubting. We know that in certain general re-
spects each star resembles our sun. Each is glowing
like our sun with an intense heat. We know that in each
star, processes resembling in violence those taking place
in our own sun, must be continually in progress, and
that such processes must be accompanied by a noise and
tumult, compared with which all the forms of uproar
known upon our earth are as absolute silence. The crash
of the thunderbolt, the bellowing of the volcano, the
awful groaning of the earthquake, the roar of the hurri-
cane, the reverberating peals of loudest thunder, any of
these, or all combined, are as nothing compared with the
tumult raging over every square mile, every square yard
of the surface of each one among the stars."
96
He proceeds to describe, with considerable circumstan-
tiality, two appearances witnessed in the heavens within
the last few years : In 1866, when a tenth-magnitude star,
(that is, four magnitudes below the lowest limit of the
naked-eye vision,) in the constellation of the Northern
Crown, suddenly shone as a second-magnitude star, after-
wards rapidly diminishing in lustre ; and in 1876, when a
new star became visible in the constellation Cygnus, sub-
sequently fading again so as to be only perceptible by
means of a telescope. After noting the conclusions
deduced from the application of the most improved in-
struments to these observations, Mr. Proctor, whose
authority is second to none among astronomers, re-
marks : "A change in our own sun, such as affected the
star in Cygnus, or that other star in the Northern Crown,
would unquestionably destroy every living creature on the
face of this earth ; nor could any even escape which may
exist on the other planets of the solar system. The star
in the Northern Crown shone out with more than eight
hundred times its former lustre ; the star in Cygnus with
from five hundred to many thousand times its former
lustre, according as we take the highest possible estimate
of its brightness before the catastrophe, or consider that
it may have been very much brighter. Now, if our sun
were to increase tenfold in brightness, all the higher
forms of animal life, and nearly all vegetable life, would
inevitably be destroyed on this earth. A few stubborn
animalcules might survive, and possibly a few of the low-
est forms of vegetation, but nought else. If the sun in-
creased a hundredfold in lustre, his heat would doubtless
97
sterilize the whole earth. The same would happen in
other planets. Certain it is that if our sun ever under-
goes the baptism of fire which has affected some few
among his brother suns, one or other of these processes
(if creation can be called a process) must come into ope-
ration, or else our earth and her companion worlds would
forever after remain devoid of life."
PART II
THE REMOVAL
SYNOPSIS
TRIAL FOR llEMOYING JAMES A. GARFIELD
Lelters of Conomendalion and Other Papers.
PREFACE
On February 4 I was sentenced to be hanged eTune 30,
1882, for removing James A. Garfield, and I herewith
publish a synopsis of my trial. Scoville's fool theory
and Spitzka's moral monstrosity lie, with the mean,
diabolical spirit of the prosecution, convicted me. The
only issue to be tried was: "Who fired that shot?" I,
personally, or I, as the agent of the Deity. I say the
Deity inspired the act and forced me to do it, and that
He will take care of it. I say Garfield deserved to be
shot. I say any President that will go back on the men
who made him, and wreck the organization that elected
him, and imperil the Republic, as Garfield did, deserves
to be shot, and I was God's man to do it ; Garfield
gushers to the contrary. Posterity will say so, too, what-
ever this generation may say about it. I frequently get
letters from school children ; and they, show a better under-
standing of the necessity for Garfield's removal than some
old heads. The Lord takes no fancy stock in Garfield or
any other man. I judge the world is divided into three
classes on this Guiteau-Garfield business — fools, devils,
and rational people. The fools and devils seem to pre-
dominate. Posterity will represent the rational people.
There has been a deal of lying in this case. The latest
is that if I am hung I want a crowd to see it. The
fact is I want no one present save the officials, and they
101
102
had better resign than kill God's man. I tremble for
them and for this nation if a hair of my head is harmed.
Some people think hanging a horrible death. As a
matter of fact, it is an easy death. I had rather be
hanged than killed on a railroad, or go by fire or flood,
or a painful illness. Mere physical death is nothing. If
the Lord wants me to go to glory that way I am willing;
but I am bound to make the best fight I can to vindicate
my inspiration, and to that end I shall press my appeal
to the court in banc by securing the best lawyers I can
to represent me in banc. If all other remedies fail, I
shall boldly appeal to the President for relief under my
own hand.
Andrew Johnson pardoned Jefferson Davis. Davis
sought to destroy this Nation. I sought to save it.
Horace Greeley and Commodore Vanderbilt and other
liberal and far-seeing men signed Davis' bail bond, and
thereby brought upon themselves the wrath of certain
disreputable newspapers and crank politicians. The
Union League Club of New York assumed to criticise
Mr. Greeley for signing Davis' bail bond, and thereupon
Horace opened on the " blockheads " of said club in his
usual vigorous style, which was somewhat like my own.
Should it become necessary for President Arthur to
pardon me I presume he will follow his own wishes
without reference to " blockheads," newspaper devils, or
cranks, of high or low degree.
If the politicians and newspapers who were cursing
Garfield last spring had any honor they would stand by
me, especially the men who hold fat offices, which they
103
obtained from my inspiration. Editors, not newspaper
devils, may review this book. Newspaper devils are pro-
hibited from reading it, as they are supposed to have no
brains or disposition to appreciate it. I sell this book
for two dollars, bound in paper. Purchasers can bind
it to suit themselves. To the trade, eighteen dollars per
dozen. Sold only by rAe. Mailed to any address on re-
ceipt of price. Photographs with autographs $9 per
dozen or $1 each. (Send money by registered letter
only.)
I spit on adverse opinion on this subject. I say I am
right. Garfield ought to have been removed, and I was
God's man to do it. If I am murdered on the gallows
this nation and the officials that do it will pay well for it.
It will be a long time before the Almighty lets up on
them. I had rather go to glory in June than to Auburn
Prison for life as some people suggest. I want an un-
conditional pardon or nothing. I am a patriot, not a
criminal, and that will be my character in history. This
is the only view I press on President Arthur for a par-
don, should it become necessary. In law this is insanity.
CHARLES GUITEAU.
United States Jail,
Washington, D. C, JIarrA U, 1882.
President Garfield was shot July 2, 1881.
He died September 19, 1881 .
I was indicted October 8, 1881. Trial began Novem-
ber 14, 1881. Verdict, Guilty, January 25, 1882. Feb-
ruary 4, 1882, I was sentenced to be banged June 30,
1882.
This case was fully reported in all the leading news-
papers, and it is unnecessary to reproduce it here, ex-
cept as it appears in the attached documents. I ap-
peared as my own counsel in part, and on Monday, Jan-
uary 16, 1882, the following speech was published in the
leading newspapers, and on the following Saturday I de-
livered it to the jury. I spoke two hours .to a minute.
This is the newspaper report of it :
The demand for admission to the court-room was un-
precedented in the long history of the trial. As early as
8 o'clock the crowd commenced to assemble in front of
the court-house, and when the doors were opened, at
9.30 o'clock, there was a desperate struggle for prece-
dence. Inside of fifteen minutes the court-room was
filled to overflowing, and Marshal Henry cried out :
" Don't allow any person to enter the room." The crowd
on the outside continued to swell in volume and soon de-
generated into an angry mob. Deputy marshals, court
bailiffs and policemen vainly endeavored to quiet their
mutterings, and it was not until near 11 o'clock that the
excited mob dispersed, fully satisfied that the coveted ad-
mission was among the impossibles. The audience as to
the sexes was about evenly divided ; of the females in at-
tendance fully two-thirds were of the strong-minded
order. Quite a number of the women in attendance at
105
106
the female suffrage convention occupied conspicuous
seats. The District bar and the pulpit of Washington
were largely represented. Congress was present in the
persons of Kepresentatives Harris, of Virginia ; Van
Voorhis, of New York ; Herbert, of Alabama ; Washburn,
of Minnesota, and Klotz and Beltzhoover, of Pennsyl-
vania.
The prisoners counsel and his brother and sister were
early arrivals. District Attorney Corkhill and Mr. Dav-
idge were the Government's representatives. At 10.10
Judge Cox took his seat on the bench and the court was
formally opened. The prisoner was at once brought in
and escorted to the witness box. He was cleanly shaved
and dressed for the occasion with especial nicety.
The Court. (To the Prisoner.) You may proceed now.
If the court please, gentlemen of the jury : The prose-
cution pretend I am a wicked man. Mr. Scoville and
Mr. Reed say I am a lunatic. I certainly was a lunatic
on July 2 when I fired on the President, and the Ameri-
can people generally thiuk I was, and I presume you
think I was. Can you imagine anything #more insane
than my going to that depot nnd shooting the President
of the United States ? You are here to say whether I
was sane or insane at the moment I fired that shot. You
have nothing to do with my condition before or since
that shot was fired. You must say by your verdict sane
or insane at the moment I fired that shot. If you have
any doubt of my sanity at that moment you must give
me the benefit of the doubt and acquit, i. e., if you have
any doubt whether I fired that shot on my own account,
or as the agent of the Deity. If I fired it on ray own
107
account I was sane. If I fired it supposing myself the
agent of the Deity I was Insane, and you must acquit.
This is the law as given in the recent decision of the New
York court of appeals. It revolutionizes the old rule,
and is a grand step forward in the law of insanity. It
is worthy of this age of railroads, electricity, and tele-
phones, and it well comes from the progressive State of
New York. I have no hesitation in saying that it is a spe-
cial Providence in my favor, and I ask this court and
jury to so consider it. Some of the best people of
America think me the greatest man of this age, and this
feeling is growing. They believe in my inspiration, and
that Providence and I have really saved the nation an-
other war.
My speech, setting forth in detail my defence, was tel-
egraphed Sunday to all the leading papers in America,
and published Monday morning. And now I am per-
mitted, by his honor, to deliver it to you. Only one
mistake occurred in it, and that was my fault. I sent
out a Christmas greeting, and the first paragraph of my
speech was taken from a printed slip, and I omitted to
erase the words, "Christmas, 1881," which appear a few
lines from the top of the speech. The sentence improp-
erly reads: "To-day. Christmas, 1881. I sufier in bonds
as a pati'iot." The words "Christmas, 1881," should
have been erased.
And here I desire to express my indebtedness to the
American press for the able and careful way they have
reported this case. The American press is a vast engine.
They generally bring their man down when they open on
108
him. They opened on me with all their batteries last
July, because they did not know my motive and inspira-
tion when I shot the President. Now, that this trial
has developed my motive and inspiration, their bitter-
ness is gone. Some editors are double-headed. They
curse you to day and bless you to-morrow, as they imag-
ine public opinion is for or against you, which shows a
very low grade of character. I desire to thank my sis-
ter, brother, and counsel, for their services on this trial.
I return thanks to the marshal and his aids, to the
superintendent of police and his force, to the warden of
the jail and his keepers, and to General Ayres and his
troops for services rendered me during this trial. I re-
turn thanks to this honorable court, and to this jury, for
their long and patient attention to this case.
I am not here as a wicked man, or as a lunatic. I am
here as a patriot, and my speech is as follows. I read
from the New York Herald. It covers over a page. It
was sent by telegraph Sunday, and published in all the
leading papers in America Monday :
GuiTEAu's Speech.
Production on lohich he relies for acquittal — Claim of
i7ispiration for the good of the party — Enrolling him-
self as a patriot — Press criticism and expert testimony.
If the court please, gentlemen of the jury : I am a pa-
triot. To-day I suffer in bonds as a patriot. Washing-
ton was a patriot. Grant was a patriot. Washington
led the armies of the Revolution through eight years of
bloody war to victory and glory. Grant led the armies
109
of the Union to victory and glory, and to-day, the nation
is happy and prosperous. They raised the old war-cry,
" Rally round the flag, boys," and thousands of the choic-
est sons of the Republic went forth to battle, to victory
or death. Washington and Grant, by their valor and
success in war, won the admiration of mankind. To-day,
I suffer in bonds as a patriot, because I had the inspira-
tion and nerve to unite a great political party, to the end
that the nation, might be saved another desolating war.
I do not pretend war was immediate, but I do say em-
phatically that the bitterness in the Republican party
last spring was deepening and deepening hour by hour,
and that within two or three years or less the nation
would have been in a flame of civil war. In the presence
of death all hearts were hushed, contention ceased. For
weeks and weeks the heart and brain of the nation cen-
tered on the sick man in the White House. At last he
went the way of all flesh, anti the nation was in mourning.
To-day, I am in the presence of this able and careful
jurist and this jury, charged with wickedly and mali-
ciously murdering the late President, and to-day, 1 suffer
in bonds as a patriot.
There is not the first element of murder in this case.
To constitute the crime of murder two elements must
co-exist. First, an actual homicide ; second, malice in
law or malice in fact. The law presumes malice from
the fact of the homicide. There is no homicide in this
case, and therefoi'e no malice in law. Malice in fact de-
pends on the circumstances attending the homicide.
Admitting that the late President died from the shot,
110
which I deny as a matter of fact, still the circumstances
attending the shooting liquidate the presumption of
malice either in law or in fact. Had he been properly
treated he probably would have been alive to-day, what-
ever my inspiration or intention. The Deity allowed the
doctors to finish my work gradually, because He wanted
to prepare the people for the change and also confirm
my original inspiration. I am well satisfied with the
Deity's conduct of the case thus far, and I have no doubt
that He will continue to father it to the end, and that
the public will sooner or later see the special providence
in the late President's removal. Nothing but the politi-
cal situation last spring justified his removal. The break
in the Republican party then was widening week by week,
and I foresaw a civil war. My inspiration was to remove
the late President at once, and thereby close the breach
before it got so wide that nothing but a civil war could
close it. The last war cost the nation a million of men
and a billion of money. The Lord wanted to prevent a
repetition of this desolation, and inspired me to execute
His will.
Why did He inspire me in preference to some one
else ? Because I had the brains and nerve, probably, to
do the work. The Lord does not employ incompetent
persons to serve Him. He uses the best material He
can find. No doubt there were thousands of Republicans
who felt as I did about the late President wrecking the
Republican party, and had they the conception, the
nerve, the brains, and the opportunity and special au-
thority from the Deity, they would have removed him.
Ill
I, of all the world, was the only man who had authority
from the Deity to do it. Without the Deity's pressure I
never should have sought to remove the President. This
pressure destroyed my free agency. The Deity com-
pelled me to do the act, just as a highwayman compels a
man to give him money, after placing a pistol at his vic-
tim's head. The victim may know it is absolutely wrong
for him to give money that his wife and child need, but
how can he keep it with a pistol at his head ? His free
agency is destroyed and he gives his money to save his
life. This irresistible pressure to remove the President
was on me for thirty days, and it never left me when
awake. It haunted me day and night. At last an op-
portunity came, and I shot him in the Baltimore and
Potomac depot. As soon as I fired the shot the inspira-
tion was worked off and I felt immensely relieved. I
would not do it again for a million of dollars. Only a
miracle saved me from being shot or hang then, and
there. It was the most insane, foolhardy act possible,
and no one but a madman could have done it. But the
pressure on me was so enormous that I would have done
it if I had died the next moment. The Deity put it on
to me, and I had to do it regardless of consequences to
myself. In shooting the President I deny that I vio-
lated any law, human or divine. Nothing that the Deity
directs a man to do can violate any law. I stand here
as the agent of the Deity, and I shall call special atten-
tion to the specific acts of the Deity since July 2, wherein
He has confirmed my original inspiration, to the end,
112
that all intelligent people may see and believe that I sim-
ply acted as His agent.
Had I shot the President on my own personal account
no punishment would be too severe or too quick for me ;
but, acting as the agent of the Deity, I had no choice save
to execute His will. There are more than thirty-eight
cases in the Bible Avhere the Deity has directed to kill
for the good of the people, i. e., to save them from some
far greater trouble.
Heretofore political grievances have been adjusted by
war or the ballot. Had Jefferson Davis and a dozen or
two of his co-traitors been shot dead in January, 1861,
no doubt our late I'ebellion never would have been, and
this would have saved the nation a vast deal of trouble
and expense, and nearly a million of lives. General
Grant, after four years of bloody strife, suppressed one
war, and Providence and I saved the nation one. As
time advances the public will appreciate this fact more
and more.
General Arthur, as President, is doing splendidly.
No man can do better. I am especially pleased with his
conciliatory spirit and wisdom toward the opposition. It
is exactly what I wished him to do, viz., unite the fac-
tions of the Republican party, to the end, that the nation
may be happy and prosperous.
The New York Herald of a recent date says :
If one compares the first two months of Garfield's
Administration, under the bad inspiration of Mr. Blaine,
with the first two months of Mr. Arthur, he must say the
comparison works entirely in Mr. Arthur's favor. The
113
Garfield-Blaine policy was openly and distinctly proscrip-
tive. It did not pretend otherwise. It violated un-
blusbingly every canon of civil service reform and every
pretence of sound administration ; it flung the j)arty into
a furious turmoil, and, leaving aside entirely the remark-
able and scandalous foreign policy which it made haste
to set on foot, it used the public offices without the least
regard to fitness or propriety to reward personal ad-
herents of Mr. Blaine, and to punish Republicans against
whom there was no charge of failure to perform their
duties to the public.
" The country," says the Herald^ " will give General
Arthur the heartiest support while it sees him reverse
the policy of his predecessor in many particulars, for
both in home and in foreign affairs that policy, inspired
by the demagogue whom poor Garfield in an evil moment
made his Secretary of State, was evil and disgraceful, and
only that."
In short, everybody politically is happy, save a few
cranks, and they will probably be happy soon. Happi-
ness is catching. The political situation to-day is just
what I knew it would be last June if Mr. Garfield was
removed. Everything on this case so far has gone about
as I anticipated last June, which is an evidence of the
Deity's confirmation of xxx^ act.
I have been in jail since July 2, and have borne my
confinement patiently and quietly, knowing that my vin-
dication would come. Thrice I have been shot at and
came near being shot dead, but the Lord kept me harm-
less. Like the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, not
a hair on my head has been singed, because the Lord,
114
whom I served when I sought to remove the Pi'esideut,
has taken care of me.
My life has beeu rather a sad one. My mother died
when I was seven. My father was a good man and an able
one, but a fanatic on religion. Under his influence I got
into the Oneida Communit}^ at nineteen, and remained
six years. Three years after this, I was unfortunately
married, and so continued four years. My life in the
Oneida Communit}^ was one of constant suffering; my
married life, the same ; my theological life, one of anxiety,
but I was happier at that than anything else, because I
was serving the Lord. My life has beeu isolated. Dur-
ing my six years in the Oneida Community I got estranged
from my relatives. I might as well have been in a State
prison or a lunatic asylum. I never was able to forgive
my father for running me into that community. If it
had not been for this I should have had a far haj^pier
life. Forgetting the things behind I press forward. I
have no doubt as to my spiritual destin3^ I have alwaj'S
been a lover of the Lord, and whether I live one year or
thirty I am His. As a matter of fact, I presume I shall
live to be President. I have had this idea for twenty years,
and it has never left me.
General Arthur is a good man every way. I hap-
pen to know him well. I was with him constantly
in New York during the canvass. So with General
Grant, Conkling, and the rest of those men. They
have not taken an active part in my defence because
it would not be proper. But I know how they feel on
this case. Thev elected Garfield, and they know that
115
under Blaine's influence he proved a traitor to them, and
imperiled the Republic. Had Garfield shown the spirit
and wisdom of Arthur he probably would have been alive
to-day. But he sold himself body and soul to Blaine ;
and Blaine, is morally responsible for his death. Mr.
Blaine is a good fellow personally, but he is a vindictive
politician, and he wanted to get even with Grant and
Conkling and Arthur for defeating him at the Chicago
Convention, and Garfield weakly yielded himself to
Blaine's influence, and it finally resulted in his death.
The prosecution have introduced certain witness who
are guilty of rank perjury, and it has excited my wrath,
and I have denounced them in plain language. I hate
the mean, deceptive way of the prosecution. My opin-
ion of the District attorney is well known. The defence
has been unfortunate in having insufficient counsel, but
notwithstanding this I expect justice will be done me,
and my motive and inspiration vindicated.
People are saying, "Well, if the Lord did it, let it go."
The mob crucified the Saviour of mankind, and Paul,
His great apostle, went to an ignominious death. This
happened many centuries ago. For eighteen centuries
no men have exerted such a tremendous influence on the
civilization of the race as the despised Galilean and His
great apostle. They did their work and left the result
with the Almighty Father. And so must all inspired men
do their work regardless of consequences, and leave the
result to the Almighty.
The worst that men can do is to kill you, but they can-
not prevent your name and work from thundering down
116
the ages. God always avenges those who mjureHis men.
Christ's contemporaries crucified the Almighty's only
Son, but He got even with the Jewish race at the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, when Titus, a Koman gen-
eral, razed the city to the ground and slaughtered over
eleven hundred thousand Jews, and from that day to this
the Jews have been a despised and down-trodden race.
The mills of the gods grind slow, but grind sure. Woe
unto any man or men that persecutes God's man ! The
Almighty will follow them in this world and in the next.
Take my own case. When the pressure to remove the
President came on me, I spent two weeks in prayer to
make sure of the Deity's will. At the end of two weeks
my mind was fixed as to the political necessity of his re-
moval, and I never have had the slightest doubt since about
the divinity of the act or the necessity for it. Thus far
the Deity has fathered the act to my entire satisfaction.
He knows I simply executed His will and I know it, and
a great many people are beginning to see it, and they will
see it more and more as time advances. I put my life on
the Deity's inspiration, and I have not come to grief yet,
and I have no idea I shall ; because, I do not think I am
destined to be shot or hung. But that is a matter for the
Deity to pass on, and not me. Whatever the mode of
my exit fi-om this world, I have no doubt but that
my name and work will roll thundering down the ages ;
but woe unto the men that kill me privately or judicially!
The Deity and one man are always a majorit}', and will
prevail against all the men ever born. Abraham and the
117
Deity were a majority. Noah and the Deity were a ma-
jority. Jesus of Nazareth and the Deity were a majority.
Over eighteen hundred years ago the Saviour of man-
kind was born in poverty and obscurity. He moved up and
down Judea and spoke as one having authority. Vast
multitudes followed him He cast out devils, healed
the sick, restored the blind and diseased, told the multi-
tude who He was and what He came for — that God, the
Father, had sent Him to point to the race the way to
eternal life. This wonderful being had nowhere to lay
His head. He had no money. He had no friends. He
never travelled. He never wrote a book. He was hated,
despised, and finally crucified as a vile impostor. Then,
back He went to the bosom of the Father. Dur-
ing His ministry He drew around Himself a few despised
individuals who were as poor as Himself. They had no
money and no standing in society, and were mostly fish-
ermen. Outwardly, like most other great events in human
history, Christianity at first was an absolute failure. It
was like a seed planted and it had to grow little by little.
Time has developed it into a gigantic tree, covering
nearly the habitable globe.
God's men are generally poor. Martin Luther, the
great reformer of the sixteenth century, was a pauper all
his life, but he served God with amazing effect, and his
name went into the history of his time as the foremost
religious man of his age. Luther revolutionized the re-
ligious thought of fifteen centuries, and to-day his name
is revered by Protestant churches. But Luther had a
118
hard time getting in his work. He was persecuted and
imprisoned, bnt out of it all the Lord delivered him.
To day I am a poor man, because I left a good law
business in Chicago in 1877 to try and do my duty in
enlightening mankind on theology. I went into theology
to serve the Lord and preach the gospel. I had as much
trouble to get in my work on theology as Paul did. He
hungei-ed and thirsted and was naked and had no cer-
tain dwelling-place, and preached the gospel as he un-
derstood it. Since he left this world his work and
name have come down the ages. Christ and Paul did
their work and left the result with the Almight}^ Father,
and I do the same. Christmas, 1878, I was in Saint
Louis. I was in very reduced circumstances. I had
been on theology a year. I had spent the year travelling,
mostly in the East, trying to preach the gospel by lec-
turing and selling my lectures in Washington, New York,
Boston, Chicago, and other cities. I felt the Lord put
this work on me, and I did the best I could. I
had no friends and little money. Christmas, 1877, I
spent in Philadelphia. I was well fed and clothed, and
was trying to lecture. Christmas, 1876, 1 was in Chicago
and was working with Mi*. Moody and writing my
lecture on Christ's second coming, A. D. 70, wherein
I show that His second coming occurred at that
time in the spiritual world, and that Christendom for
eighteen centuries has lost its reckoning concerning this
great event ! My mission was to enlighten mankind in
reference to the second coming of Christ — a subject
that has caused the wisest theologians in the Chi'istian
119
Church for eighteen centuries a vast deal of thought and
has probably ruined thousands of immortal souls. I
spent three years in this business and received noth-
ing but poverty and contempt for my services and trouble.
But I expect the Deity will take care of me hereafter
on that. This is the reason I am to-day a poor man. Had
I stuck to my law business either in New York or Chi-
cago, I should have been a rich man to da}^ but I had
other work to do. My book, The Truth, contains my
theology. It cost me trouble enough, and I have no
doubt but it is official. During the three years I was on
theology I incurred some small debts which I have not
yet been able to pay. A thousand dollars would pay
every dollar I owe. Some men owe a hundred thousand
dollars and are considered high-toned. The prosecution
have made a great noise about my owing some board
bills, but that has no bearing on this issue whatever ;
whether I owe five cents or twenty thousand dollars.
As a matter of fact, I owe about a thousand dollars.
But that has nothing to do with this case in any manner,
shape, or form. I understand Mr. Corkhill, who has
taken it upon himself to dig up mj circumstances, owes
a hundred times more than I do. I always pay
when I have the money, but there was no money in
theology, and I knew it when I went into it. I did
the best I could considering my circumstances, and
that was all the Lord wanted of me. As Paul says, " I
fought a good fight. I finished my course, I kept the
faith," and I am sure of my reward
In August, 1879, I left Chicago and spent several
120
months in Boston, trying to push the sale of my book,
but it was new and few persons appreciated it- I left
Boston in June, 1880, and went to New York to take an
active part in politics. I was a " Grant man," but I was
pleased with Garfield's nomination. I wrote a speech en-
titled "Garfield against Hancock," wherein I sought to
show that the Repiablic would be imperiled by Hancock's
election. I gave tbis speech to the leading Stalwarts and
they were pleased with it. It had a certain ring and they
noticed it. I made their personal acquaintance at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel and at the headquarters of the Republican
National Committee, and was always well received by
them. I judge they thought me a bright man and a good
fellow. I was in New York from June, 1880, to March,
1881, when I came to Washington. T was an applicant
for the Paris consulship, and pressed my application in
March and April Owing to General Garfield's unwise
use of patronage he began soon after his inauguration to
wreck the Republican party, and continued so to do till
the day he was shot.
Garfield was a good man, but a weak politician. His
nomination was an accident. His election was tbe result
of the greatest activity on the part of the Stalwarts, and
his removal a special providence. As soon as he was in-
augurated he foolishly made Mr. Blaine — the worst
enemy that Grant and Conkling had — his Secretary of
State and bosom friend. Blaine used Garfield to crush
Grant and Conkling and Arthur — the very men that made
Garfield President. Without the extraordinary efi:'orts of
Grant, Conkling, and Arthur and the rest of the Stal-
121
warts, Garfield never would have been elected. Every
man of sense will admit this, whatever his politics. Soon
after Robertson's appointment the Republican party be-
gan to heat up. This was about the middle of May. By
the 1st of June it was red hot. By the 1st of July it
was white hot. If this spirit had not been killed by the
President's removal, the nation would soon have been in
a flame of civil war. Our late rebelHon cost the nation
nearly a million of men and a l)illiou of money, and it
desolated tlie hearth-stones of the Republic. To prevent
a repetition of this desolation the removal of the late
President was necessary. By his removal the Republican
party was cemented and the nation to-day is happy and
pi'osperous. And to-day, I suffer in bonds, because, I
had the inspiration and nerve to remove the President
that the nation might live !
I now review the case since July 2, and call special at-
tention to acts of the Deity wherein He has taken special
pains to protect me and confirm my inspiration, to the
end, that all men may see, and seeing, may believe in my in-
spiration.
The political situation attracted my attention about
the 20th of May — i. e., at the time Messrs. Conk-
ling and Piatt, the then Senators from New York, re-
signed. The public mind was greatly excited over their
resignation, and it greatly perplexed me, and I grieved
over it, because I was at the National Republican head-
quarters in New York during the canvass, and I knew
that Gi'ant and Conkling and Arthur had elected Garfield.
When I saw that Garfield, under Blaine's vindictive
122
spirit, was proving a traitor to the men that made bim
it grieved me to the heart, and I prayed over it. " If
Garfield was out of the way," thought I one night in my
bed, "everything would go well." Things seemed to be
going from bad to worse under his leadership, and I fore-
saw another desolating war as the result of it. For two
weeks I prayed over the possibility of the President's re-
moval. The more I prayed about it and the more I
looked at the political situation the more I saw the ne-
cessity for his removal. Finally, after two weeks of
earnest prayer, I decided that the Deity had called me
to do it, and I commenced preparation for it. This was
about the 1st of June. From that day to this, I never
have had the slightest doubt as to the divinity of the act
or the necessity for it. An opportunity came, and I
shot him on July 2. Not being a marksman he lingered
till September 19, when he passed quietly and gently
away, the Lord thereby confirming my inspiration.
There was a special providence in his dying in New
Jersey. I undertake to say the Deity allowed him to
die there to protect me from the possibility of legal lia-
bility for simply executing His will. Should this jury
condemn me to be hung, the Deity has probably fixed
the law so that their verdict cannot be legally enfoi'ced.
It is the opinion of some of the ablest members of this
bar that this court has no jurisdiction to try this case.
I now call attention to other acts of the Deity con-
firming my inspirations.
I went to the Baltimore and Potomac depot on the 2d
of July, and shot the President twice. Only one ball
I
123
took effect. I would not do it again for $1,000,000. It
was the most insane, foolhardy act possible. No one but
a madman could have done it. But I would have done
it any time after June 1 if I had known I was to be shot
dead the nest moment. I had no power to prevent it.
My free agency was entirely destroyed. I was under
duress. In law, any one under duress is not responsible
for his act. How do we know you were under duress ?
My word for it. No one else can know this fact but
the Deity and I. I know it and the Deity knows it,
and He has taken special pains thus far to protect
me. I might have been shot dead at the depot, and
probably would have been had not the Deity protected
me. I had to do my duty to the Deity and to the Amer-
ican people, regardless ,of consequences to myself. Do
the act and let the Deity take care of it is what I did do,
and He has taken care of it thus far to my entire satis-
faction.
I would have been hung or shot a hundred times last
summer if I had not been in jail — one of the finest in
America — and protected by the national troops. The
Lord uses men to serve Him and protect me. The bitter-
ness against me was caused by the public not knowing
me or my motive. My trial has informed them, and to-
day, I can walk all over Washington or New York safely.
No one wants to shoot or hang me now, save a few
cranks, who are so ignorant they can hardly read or
write. High toned people are saying, " Well, if the Lord
did it^ let it go."
The President did not die before his time. If the
124
Lord bad not wanted him be would not bave departed.
Pbysical deatb is notbing-. All men bave died ; all men
will die. Tbe President migbt bave been taken o£f by a
railroad accident, or slipped on an orange peel and broken
bis neck. During tbe war tbousands of brave boys on
botb sides went down witbout a tear. Tbeir mangled
remains lie buried in many a grave. Tbey left tbeir
bomes and loved ones and suffered as I do to-day for
tbeir country.
Just tbink of it ! If it be true absolutely tbat
Providence and I saved tbe nation, wby sbould I not
be a bero, and tbe equal of Wasbington and Lincoln
and Grant? Many people are beginning to see tbat I
bave saved tbe nation. Listen to tbis from a Pbiladelpbia
gentleman. I judge bim to be a bigb-toned lawyer from
bis style and penmansbip. I witbbold bis name :
Philadelphia, January \st, 1882.
Dear Sir : I wisb you a very bappy New Year. You
bave cemented tbe Republican party and saved tbe na-
tion. Your name will live in bistory and go down tbrougb
tbe ages linked witb tbe patriot Brutus. Tbe results
tbat bave followed your act are tbe best evidences of
your inspiration.
Julius Cffisai*, tbe greatest Roman of bis age, was as-
sassinated by Brutus in tbe Roman forum, wberein con-
gregated tbe w^ealfcb, tbe wit, and tbe beauty of tbe Roman
empire. An elocutionist bas sent me a new version of
Sbakespeare's "Brutus on tbe deatb of Caesar,"" wbicb I
bere give in part. Tbis is tbe new version of it :
125
Friends, conntrymeu, and lovers !
Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may
hear.
Believe me for mine hDnoi', and have respect to mine
honor that you may beheve. Censure me in your wis-
dom, and awake your senses that you may the better
judge.
If there be in this assembly any dear friend of Garfield,
to him 1 say Guiteau's love to Garfield was not less than
his. If, then, that friend demand why Guiteau removed
Garfield, this is Guiteau's answer : Not that Guiteau
loved Garfield less, but he loved his country more. Had
you rather that Garfield were living and die in war than
that Garfiekl were dead to Hve in peace ? As Garfield
loved Guiteau, Guiteau weeps for him ; as he was fortu-
nate, Guiteau rejoices at it ; as he was a good man,
Guiteau honors him ; but by the Deity's inspiration
Guiteau removed Garfield for the good of his country.
The prosecution have introduced certain disreputable
witnesses — to wit, one Reynolds; to wit, one Shaw; to
wit, one English, and others like them. These witnesses
are hardly worth my notice. Reynolds, a sneaking Gov-
ernment detective, came to my cell about July 20 and
appeared exceedingly cordial and pretended to be my
personal friend. I had not sj^oken to him for years, al-
though I read law in his office in 1868. His testimony
in general was correct ; but I hate the mean, deceptive
way he and Corkhill got it. Shaw, I officed with in New
York in 1872 and 1873, and have known nothing about
him since. He pretends I told him I was going to emu-
late the example of Booth and kill some great man.
This is absurd on its face. Is is likely I would wait
12<)
ten years to remove General Garfield when Grant and
Conkling and scores of far more prominent men than
Garfield, were living during the ten years since Shaw pre-
tends I told him I would emulate the example of Booth ?
The fact is I never mentioned Booth's name to Shaw
in any possible way. Shaw's pretence is a wicked and mali-
cious falsehood, without the slightest foundation in fact.
This man Shaw was indicted for pei'jury in New Jersey
and came near being convicted. The court told him
from the bench, so I am informed, that he ought to be in
State prison for perjury. At all events, he told a wilful
lie about me. English was in jail under $40,000 bail for
libelling Mr. Winston, of the New York Mutual Life In-
surance Company, and I got him out after several weeks
of strenuous effort, for which he paid me my fee and sub-
sequently sued for the money. It was a gross piece of
impertinence on his part, and his attorney subsequently
told me he commenced the suit under a misapprehension.
I now review briefly some of the evidence to show that
I tell the truth when I say that the Deit}- inspired me to
remove the President ; that He forced me to do it, and
that He has taken care of it.
The President was shot on July 2, and I went imme-
diately to police headquarters and remained fifteen min-
utes, and then to the jail. I was taken to the jail in a
carriage by Detective McElfresh and Lieutenant Austin
and two officers. We drove rapidly so as to avoid the
mob. As soon as we were under way McElfresh said,
" We were not any too soon. They were organizing,"
meaning, that if I had remained at police headquarters I
127
would have beeu hung or shot immediately. McElfresh
said, " Why did yoia shoot Garfield f I said, " Because
he was wrecking the Republican part}', and that there
would have been another war in this country soon." He
said, " There are a great many people of your way of
thinking." "Of course there are," said I.
This shows why I shot the Pi'esident, and kills the
Paris consulship idea. I would not have taken any office
from the President after June 1, under any circumstan-
ces ; not even a Cabinet appointment.
Mr. Brooks, Chief of the Secret Service interviewed
me in my cell July 2 about 12 o'clock — that is to say,
the first night I was in jail. This interview is thus re-
ported in his testimony :
James G. Brooks. Chief of the Secret Service Division
of the Treasury Department, was then called to the stand
by Mr. Scoville, and in reply to questions made the fol-
lowing statement:
I had an interview with the prisoner at midnight on
the 2d of July. When I entered the cell I announced
my name and position. Mr. Guiteau was in bed. He
rose up and exhibited great auger and excitement, and
wanted to know why I came at that time of night and
disturbed his rest and quiet, and he told me to go
away. I retorted pretty hotly that it ill-became a mur-
derer to complain about his rest and quiet when he had
disturbed the rest and quiet of the nation, and plunged
it into grief. He came at me and said he was no mur-
derer. He was a Christian and a gentleman. I said that
I, too. professed to be a Christian, and thought that if he
had ever taken God into his counsel in this matter he
would not have done so wicked a thine".
128
He said that be bad taken God in account ; that he bad
thought over it, and prayed over it for six weeks, and the
more he thought and prayed the more satisfied be was
that he bad to do this thing. I endeavered to argue
with him, but he would have no argument. He bad
made up his mind that be had done it as a matter of
duty, and could not listen to any argument about it.
His mind was made up, and he did not want to be dis-
turbed. He spoke, also, of his being a Stalwart, and
asked me whether I was a Democrat. I said no ; I
was a Republican. "And a Stalwart?" "Yes; and a
Stalwart."
" Then," said be, "you can appreciate ray motives in
doing this thing. You can see it is a political necessity.
What I did I did from patriotic motives to unify the
party." We talked probably half an hour. I kept crowd-
ing him, and be talked eloquently. I told him I came to
learn who his accomplices were. He said he had no
accomplices ; no soul on earth knew of what he was going
to do but himself. I intimated that we were about to
make two or three arrests. He said, "Don't do it.
If you do, you will arrest innocent men. There
was no man connected with me in this thing."
I questioned him about the purchase of the pistol.
He told me where be purchased it. The next day I
visited him. He was calm then, and quite glad to
see me. He gave me the details of bis work — how he
commenced ; how he watched the President ; how be was
going to shoot him two weeks before when he was
deterred by seeing the poor, sick wife on the arm of her
husband. He told me, also, that he was lying in wait
for him one night near the White House when the Presi-
dent came out, and bis first impulse was to remove him
then. Somehow be was restrained from doing so. He
followed the President to Mr. Blaine's bouse, and waited
129
for them to come out. He could see Mr. Blaine argu-
ing, and striking his hands, and talking very earnestly.
The President, in his turn, would be striking his hands
and talking, and he made up his mind that they were
conspiring against the liberties of the people, and that
the President must die.
I suggested to him then: "If your hand was stayed
when you saw the wife of the President on his arm ; if
your hand was stayed when the President was alone,
going to Mr. Blaine's house, how came it that you did
not recognize that as an intimation from God that He
did not want you to destroy this man ?"
I forgot his reply, but it was an evasive one.
The Prisoner. It was that I only had authority to re-
move the President, not Mrs. Garfield.
The Prisoner. It is proper to say that Mr. Brooks has
stated the conversations which occurred, between us very
correctly indeed. He said that everybody was against
me. I said I don't care if God Almighty is for me. I
will take my chance, and after a while the people will be
with me, and to-day they are with me.
Mr. ScoviLLE. Did you report your interviews to any
one ?
The Witness, To Mr. Corkhill and Attorney-General
MacVeagh.
The Prisoner. Mr. MacVeagh is a Christian man, and
that is the reason he did not want to have anything to do
with this case. That is the reason the New Jersey au-
thorities did not want to have anything to do with it.
They didn't want to get the Lord down on them. That
is the place to try this case. You cannot try it here.
Mr. ScoviLLE. Did he say anything in regard to that
being the first rest he had had for six weeks ?
The Witness. He did. He said that he had an excel-
130
lent night's sleep — the first good night's sleep he had in
six weeks.
The Prisoner. I felt light-hearted and merry as soon
as I got into the cell. I felt happy because I had been
true to God and the American people, and everything
from that day to this has gone about as I expected.
Everybody is happy except a few cranks, and I don't care
about them. Mr. Garfield did not die before the Lord
wanted him. If the Lord had not wanted him he would
not have gone. He let him go to Elberon to remove him
gently and gracefully.
This interview with Mr. Brooks I consider a special
Providence in my favor. I talked with him freelj' about
the Deity, my inspiration, and the political situation,
which showed the condition of my mind on July 2, when
I was precipitated on to the President. By no other man
could I have proved the condition of my mind at the
time I fired on the President. His testimony, I have no
doubt, settled this case in my favor in the minds of
many people. Mr. Corkhill and his stenographer, whom
I took for a Herald reporter, interviewed me on July 3,
and I told them, in a two-hour's talk, all about the Deity,
my inspiration, and the political situation, for which the
President was responsible. I also repeated this talk on
July 4 in the presence of Corkhill, Bailey, the stenog-
rapher, and Mr. Scoville. T also told them emphatically
I did not think the President would recover, because I
did not think the Deity wanted him to recover, which
proved to be correct, as he died on September 19. Mr,
Corkhill wickedly and maliciously had Bailey's note-book
J
131
destroyed so I could not prove by it what I said on
July 3d and .4tb on my inspiration.
Mr. Brooks interviewed me, expecting to discover a
conspiracy. I told him that my inspiration alone did it
and that no one was associated with me. He listened
carefully to my story, and be believed it, and dropped his
conspiracy idea.
A vast deal of rubbish has got into this case on
both sides. The issue here is, who fired that shot, the
Deity or me ? Had I fired it on my own personal account
no punishment would have been too quick or too severe
for me, and this is why I protected myself by going to
jail and having the national troops ordered out. I
knew T would be shot or hung at once if I was not
protected by the jail and the troops. I knew the Presi-
dent's removal would cause the greatest excitement, and
my only safety was to get beyond the reach of the mob
until the populace knew my motive and my inspiration.
I am greatly indebted to General Sherman, General
Ayres, and General Crocker, the warden of the jail, for
protection. Had it not been for then- vigilance, especially
General Crocker's, I should not be here. General Crocker
has been a solid friend to nie from the start. The
President's lingering illness and the suppression of
all my papers, wherein I talked of the Deity's precipitating
me on to the President, made a bitter feeling against me.
This trial has developed my motive and my inspiration, and
to-day the people consider me a patriot and a great man.
The prosecution have made a great flourish with their in-
sane experts. The only insanity in this case is what these
132
experts call transitory mania — I. e., the Abraham style of
insanity. There are thirty-eight cases of Abrahamic in-
sanity in the Bible — L e., of illegal killing, resulting from
the possession of transitory mania by divine authority.
It was on this ground — to wit, transitory mania, that
Sickles, McFarland, Cole, Hiscock. and other supposed
criminals were acquitted. In the case of Cole the jury
found him sane immediately before and after the firing,
but they were uncertain as to his mental condition at the
moment of firing, and they asked the court what their
verdict should be. The court said they must give the
defendant the benefit of the doubt, and they did so, and
he was acquitted.
If a single man on this jury has the slightest doubt as
to whether I fired that shot on my personal account, or
as the agent of the Deity, he is bound under the law to
give me the benefit of the doubt and acquit me. The
prosecution have attempted to show by their paid experts
that I was not suffering from transitory mania at the
time I fired on the President. But what do they know
about it ? Absolutely nothing. Had I plenty of money
I could get fifty reputable experts to swear I was insane,
absolutely, at that time. I take no stock in the shape of
the head or the hang of the tongue, or in the opinion of
experts on either side of this issue.
I read the following fi'om an able newspaper article,
entitled " The Guiteau Experts." It is pointed and well
written, and I give it entire. It comes from the Athens
of America, Boston:
133
" The Guiteau Experts. — The Government experts in
Guiteau's ease seem to be having things very much their
own way, and will probably succeed in getting him
hanged, provided they succeed in getting the jury to
accept their opinions as to his sanity or insanity. But
will they do this ? Are we to hang a man simply because
a (certain number of superintendents of lunatic asylums
believe him sane ? Are we to hang a man on mere
opinion, the truth or reason of which cannot be judged
of by common men ? Do the lives of men in this country
legally depend on the mere judgments of any twenty,
fifty, or one hundred men who claim to know more than
other men as to what diseases, delusions, or impulses
that strange thing, the human mind is liable to, but who
cannot so communicate the grounds of their opinions as
to enable other men to judge of their truth or error?
These men never saw, handled, or examined a human
mind. They can only observe its manifestations through
the body, and can only guess, like other people, at the
causes of its mysterious and erratic operations. Are
men to be hanged on the strength of their guesses?
There are, we suppose, in this country three, or perhaps
five hundred men — physicians, so called — who make a
specialty of treating diseases of the human body where
there is but one who makes a specialty of treating
diseases of the human mind. But though diseases of the
human body are so much more extensively studied and
treated, and so much easier to be ascertained and judged
of than are diseases of the mind, we have very little con-
fidence of the knowledge of those many physicians as to
the nature or causes of our bodily diseases. But even
this is not all. These experts not only give their
opinions that Guiteau is sane now, but also that he
was sane on the 2d of July, five or six months ago. Even
if he is sane now, what do they know or what are their
134
opinions worth as to whether he was, or was not, sane six
months ago ? They apparently have no reason for
thinking that he was sane in July, except that they
think he is sane in January. Would it not be just as
sensible for them to say that, because he has no fever
or delirium tremeiJS on him to-day, therefore he could
have had none on him six months ago ? This kind
of reasoning implies that they hold that if a man was
insane in July he would undoubtedly have continued
to be insane until January ; or, what is substantially
the same thing, that if a man is once insane he
will always remain so. Now, this, we think, is very
likely to be the rule in the asylums under their own con-
trol ; that they seldom or never cure anybody that comes
under their care, and we ought to be thankful for this in-
formation, for it enables us to know where not to send
our insane friends if we wish to have them cured. In
this theory of theirs, that once insane always insane, the
cases in which they report the patient as 'discharged
cured ' must be presumed to be cases in which the vic-
tims never were insane, but were simply sent to them on
'the certificate of two physicians,' who knew just as
much about insanity as it was necessary for them to
know, or as they cared to know, in order to earn two or
three dollars for certifying their opinions.
"If these experts have really any reliable knowledge
beyond that of other men as to the operations of minds
diseased or not diseased, why do they not give us some
reasonable explanation of the conduct of Guiteau in kill-
ing a man in open day and before a multitude of people,
and making no attempt to escape, and all this when he
had no personal malice toward his victim, and no rational
prospect of gaining anything by his death? Are such
acts as this common to human experience — so common
as to imply disorder in the mind of the actor ? Do all
135
the experieuces of all the bedlams on earth explain such
a phenomena as this consistently with the sanity of the
agent ?
" When these experts are confronted with this question
they are confounded. Instead of telling us how a sane
man could do such an act they stammer out ' wickedness,'
'depravity,' 'evil passions.' But what 'evil passion?'
Was it the evil passion of avarice or jealousy or revenge,
or any other particular ' evil passion ' that is known to
induce men to commit murder? No; it was evidently
none of these. But it was (as these experts woiild have
us believe) simple 'wickedness,' 'depravity,' 'evil pas-
sions.' They can give no answer more definite than that.
Such answers as these might perhaps pass in some
schools of theology which hold that a virus* of simple
'wickedness,' 'depravity,' or 'evil passions' was in-
corporated into the very nature of our first parents and
by them transmitted to all their postei'ity. But when
they are offered in a court of justice, where a man's life
is at stake, they are not merely shameful, they are in-
famous. Men are not to be hanged in this country upon
any theory that theologians or others may hold as to an
ancient transaction between Adam, Eve, and the devil.
" Those experts have had thousands of insane persons
under their care. Many of these persons have committed
homicides or other violent assaults. All of them, or
nearly all of them, were supposed to be liable to commit
acts dangerous to themselves or others. The insanity of
no two of them showed itself in the same way. But they
were all saying and doing things daily that were just as
absurd and irrational as was the act of Guiteau. And
becaiise their acts, whether violent or not, were so absurd
and irrational, these experts have no doubt that the actors
were insane. But when Guiteau does an absurd and
irrational act they hold that he is not insane, but simply
136
'wicked,' 'depraved,' uuder tlie control of his 'evil
passions.' And yet they can give no reasons — that are
capable of being comprehended and judged of by com-
mon minds — why Guiteau's absurd and irrational act is
not as good proof of his insanity as the absurd and irra-
tional acts of others are of theirs.
" Even the witches were not hanged on such absurd
testimony as this."
Spiritology and not craniology is the science that will
sooner or later solve all questions of insanity. The pos-
session of a spirit compelling one to do or not to do is
the only way to solve the question of insanity. Let
these paid experts study spiritology as taught by the
Saviour, and they will get more truth than they can out
of craniology.
I am in receipt of a large mail, representing the pro-
gressive thought of the nation, which I now call attention
to, as it shows the public feeling towai'd me. I withhold
the names. I have probably a thousand letters awaiting
my inspection in my office in the jail, which I shall exam-
ine as soon as possible.
I give a few, showing the tone of the American people.
I annex letters from the East and the West and the
North and the South and taking in all classes of society.
I recently received a telegram from Boston, as fol-
lows :
All Boston sympathizes with you. You ought to be
President.
A HOST OF ADMIRERS.
137
A Chicago lawyer sends this :
Chicago, Dec. 30, 1881.
Hon. Charles Guiteau : I have watched your trial from
the beginning with great interest, and am fimly convinced
of the truth and justice of your defence. Be of good
cheer. Tour acquittal is assured, and you will come
forth from this trial honored and respected. The Ameri-
can people delight in so striking an evidence of pluck
and sagacity, and will surely sustain you.
Memphis, Tenn.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
Very Dear Sir : Allow a fellow attorney to wish you a
happy New Year, and pray that your trial may soon come
to an end, and that you may be honorably acquitted, as
you deserve a better home than the one provided by the
authorities at Washington. We think you are justified
in that you were inspired to do the deed for which you
ai*e being tried.
South Pueblo, Col., Jan. 1, 1882.
Ten thousand citizens of the Centennial State hail you
as a martyr to the cause of human freedom.
This is from Wisconsin :
What a pity that a Republican form of government al-
lows you to suffer for an act you surely intended for its
benefit. May God bless you and hasten the time when
you will be set free. Tour name is sung all over the
land as a national hero.
New Haven, Conn., December 31, 1881.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : Please allow a high-toned American citizen
to thank you for demonstrating to fifty millions of peo-
138
pie in the glorious United States, and all Europe, Asia,
and Africa, with the islands of the sea added, that you
believe in liberty of conscience, freedom of thought, and
are not afraid to express it. Sir, your example in the
past few weeks will go thundering down the ages, and
do more to extinguish gag-law than was ever done before.
Maintain your high-toned dignity and you are O. K.
This is but a feeble expression of a large majority of
the educated and cultured people of the United States.
Yours in the cause of free speech and liberty.
My little speeches have done more to break this prose-
cution than half a dozen of the best lawyers in America
could do. I have always spoken for right, for justice, for
vindication. I have had no intention to make this trial
a farce. The prosecution have villified me outrageously.
I had to defend myself or be crushed like a craven.
Concordia, Kan., January 1, 1882.
Hon. Chaeles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : I have been a close observer of the pro-
ceedings in your trial from the newspaper reports, and
will assure you that your defence is daily gaining public
favor in Kansas, and it is the opinion of the best
men of the country here that your inspiration saved the
Republican party, and the time is not distant when you
will be soundly acquitted and your fame flash across the
country, and your inspiration will enlighten both the
eastern and western hemisphere, and you may be assured
of the heartfelt sympathy of every genuine Republican in
Kansas, in this, your hour of affliction, who will ever at-
tribute to you the honor and credit of saving, by your
inspiration, our grand old Republican party.
139
Philadelphia, New Year's Day, 1882.
We wish to your honor a happy new year,
We hope that the hour of your freedom is near,
For your stainless acquittal we'U heartily pray,
As we read your career in the court-house each day.
All Philadelphia speaks in your praise,
To be chief of our nation your honor they'd raise.
That they wiU not see you by Corkhill to fall
Is the earnest resolve of our citizens all.
Davidge and Porter shall uot get their way.
These bloodthirsty scoundrels have too much to say —
But they cannot be blamed, for their wages are high,
And we all know what evidence dollars can buy —
But little care you for themselves or their jaw,
For you greatly outshine them in smartness and law.
Tour conduct this month back we all have admired,
And we feel fully certain you had been inspired
To make that removal by one daring deed,
For which we shall never allow you to bleed.
Protestant, Catholic, Quaker, and Jew,
We send our best wishes to Charles Guiteau.
We bid you be firm, determined, and brave.
And from Corkhill's vile meshes our hero we'll save.
New Toek, January^ 1882.
Hon. C. Guiteau : You do not place J. K. Porter's pay
high enough. He gets $25,000 instead of $5,000, and
those experts, (doctors,) get from $1,000 to $3,000 in-
stead of $5,000. They are wasting money that does not
belong to them. Their testimony amounts to nothing.
Keep things hot for them.
This man says Mr. Porter is a high-toned lawyer.
Porter may lose some of his tone on this case. Mr.
Porter was employed by General Arthur last October,
before he knew the facts of this case.
Attorney-General MacVeagh examined my papers and
sent Mr. Brooks to interview me, supposing there was a
140
conspiracy, on July 2 and 3. I satisfied Mr. Brooks
there was no conspiracy, and that the Deity had inspired
me to remove the President, and he so reported to the
Attorney-General, who then decided • to have nothiug
whatever to do with this case.
Had President Arthur been as well advised as to the
facts in October as he is to-day Mr. Porter would not be
in this case. So with Davidge. Corkhill is booked for
removal, and has been since General Arthur became
President.
This man thinks I am better than Jeff. Davis :
Washington, Jan. 3, 1882.
In your speech to the court you may well argue that if
the leaders of the late rebellion, and especially Jeff. Davis,
who is responsible for thousands of noble lives and mill-
ions of treasure sunk in war — Jeff. Davis, the arch crimi-
nal of the country — is allowed to go without punish-
ment, you, who have but removed one man, and a poli-
tician at that, should certainly be treated with indulgence
and clemency.
That is good logic.
It has been said that when the Deity and I removed
the President a blow was struck at Republicanism.
But I say the Republic was endangered by the Presi-
dent, and hence the necessity for his removal. I say
that I saved the nation and the Deity confirmed the act,
and the American people are satisfied with it. The
American people are the most magnanimous people on
the globe. All they want is to understand a matter and
141
then they can give a righteous judgment. They admire
brains and phick, and go for it every time.
On June 16, two weeks before the President was shot,
I used these words in an address to the American people.
"Ingratitude is the basest of crimes. That the Presi-
dent, under the manipulation of his Secretary of State,
has been guilty of the basest ingratitude toward the
Stalwarts, admits of no denial. The expressed purpose
of the President has been to crush General Grant and
Senator Conkling, and thereby prepare the way for his
renomination in 1881. In the President's madness he
has wrecked the once grand old Republican party, and
for this he dies."
When I wrote these words I had been in a mania for
thirty days ; I had groaned under the political situation.
I was in a reverie or trance. In the same address I used
these words (I cannot render my feelings as Booth or
Jefferson could, but I will do it in my humble way. I
am supposed, for the moment, to recover from the mania.
I think what the public will say when they find the Presi-
dent is shot, and I reel and stagger under the thought, I
am about to remove the President. But God's will, and
not mine, be done :) —
" I had no ill-will toward the President. This is not
murder. It is a political necessity. It will make my
friend Arthur President, and save the Republic.
(A feeling of the war comes over me.)
" Grant, during the war, sacrificed thousands of lives to
save the Republic. I have sacrificed only one."
"I shot the President as I would a rebel if I saw him
142
pulling down the American flag." [And here is the in-
spiration on the 16th of June.] " I leave my justification
to God and the American people ; and to-day, six months
after the shot was fired, the Deity has repeatedly con-
firmed the act, as indicated by my experience as set forth
in this speech, and the American people are satisfied to
'et this prosecution go by default."
On June 20, in the same address, T used these wox'ds,
" The President's nomination was an act of God. The
President's election was an act of God. The President's
removal is an act of God."
I now call attention to a remarkable letter, entitled " A
Genuine Christian on the Guiteau case." It is a public
letter addressed to Mr. Scoville, and came to me provi-
dentially :
" Why torture your head about witnesses *? Rivet your
trust in Jehovah. Has He not already twice snatched your
client, Guiteau, from the jaws of death ? Be assured
then, He will not desert you or him. I am told, sir, you
are a ' Christian ' — Guiteau we know is. Then throw to
the winds insanity as a defence. Go boldly to trial de-
manding the recognition of God's supremacy. That it
was His will Garfield should die is already proven. Had
the bullet missed would it not have been providential ?
As it hit, was it not equally providential ? Who but an
infidel would say God had not the power to stop the
leaden messenger ? All Christians agree if God willed it
otherwise it would have been otherwise. Could He not
have palsied Guiteau's arm had He wished? When
Guiteau raised his weapon in His name would He not
have stopped him, as He did Abraham of old, had it been
148
His will ? Isaac was rescued by God. Garfield was killed
by God. Fifty millions of people went down upon their
knees imploring his life. God answered them with
death. Tbeir prayer was, ' Oh spare our President, if
it be Thy will.'"
Rev. Mr. Morgan (in Church of Heavenly Rest) —
" God had refused to prolong the life of our beloved Pres-
ident. He had refused it deliberately, and because it was
best to refuse it."
Let Christians be sure of that. Let them know that
God is always right. Let them kneel before the body of
the dead President and say: " Our Father which art in
Heaven, the blow is heavy. Thy providence is dark, but
Thou knowest best — we can trust Thee when we cannot
understand Thee."
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (in prayer) — "Thou Lord,
hast laid Tby hand heavily upon this nation. Thy servant
Thou has taken to Thyself in a way that fills us with
shame and horror. We believe that Thou art anointing
this great people and by this great sorrow raising us to
a higher plane."
Rev. Mr. Crawford (Forty-second Street Methodist
Epispocal Church) — " Garfield's loss was a great one to
the nation, but the wisdom of God could not be ques-
tioned, as He did all things for the best."
Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix (Trinity) — "God made the world ;
He governs it. His never-failing providence ordered all
things in heaven and earth. Whatever cometh hath a
meaning. The events of the hour and the day are not
the result of chance. God it is who orders or permits
whatever occurs on earth, in heaven, in hell, above, be-
low, around us. It may be there are those who do not
feel in all this (the assassination) that God is chastening,
afflicting, punishing, visiting."
Dr. Talmage — " Garfield's death accomplished more
144
than his life in setting forth the truth that when our time
comes to go the most energetic and skillful opposition
cannot hinder the event."
The Doctor (in prayer) — " God bless this dispensation
(the shooting of Garfield) to the nation, and may the
people yet shout, ' Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipo-
tent reigns!'"
Rev. Di'. Storrs (Brooklyn) — " To day I ask you to hear
the voice of God in the lessons which He brings to us
through this sad and strange and unexpected dispensa-
tion of His providence. Men sometimes say the cause
of providence is not in it at all ; it was mei'e human mor-
tals ; it was the insanity of the mind disordered. But
God's providence controls the wills of men."
Rev. Dr. Bellows — "Already blessings manifold had fol-
lowed the shooting of the President, and the effect of
that good influence was seen throughout the whole na-
tion. Sublime confidence in God was reached when we
could say from the heart, ' Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him.' God did not permit His ways to be placed
under our microscopic inspection."
Clearly, Guiteau, was inspired from on high. Let this
nation dare harm a hair of his head and it may go out in
blood. God issued this order once, (and He may a sec-
ond time :) " Put every man his sword by his side, and
go in and out from gate to gate, throughout the camp,
and slay every man his brother, and every man his com-
panion, and every man his neighbor. There fell of the
people that day about three thousand men."
If God's wrath is again stirred He may slay, not three
thousand, but fifty millions — i. e., the entire American
people."
This is a strong statement, but it is not too strong.
U5
Beware, ye nations of the earth, who incur the wrath of
the Almighty !
The French nation incurred the wrath of the Deity and
it came to grief. The bloody French revolution devas-
tated that nation like a tornado of fire and blood. The
old Roman Empire, the greatest government on earth
for centuries, incurred the wrath of the Deity, and it too
was swept out of existence. The Jewish nation, God's
favored nation for two thousand years, incurred the wrath
of the Deity when they crucified the despised Galilean,
and it too went down in war and desolation.
Beware, ye Americans, that you do not incur the wrath
of the Deity by dealing unwisely by me, for I tell you the
truth and lie not, when I say I am here as God's man.
He inspired the President's removal and has taken care
of it, and I expect He will vindicate me, even if this na-
tion rolls in blood ! Put my body in the ground if you
will ; that is all you can do. But thereafter comes a day of
reckoning. The mills of the gods grind slow, but they
grind sure, and they will gi'ind to atoms every man that
injures me.
Beware, ye Americans ! Beware !
American slaveholders put John Brown's body in the
ground, but they paid for it during the war in blood and
desolation.
John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground,
But his soul went marching on.
Glory hallelujah ! Glory hallelujah !
John Brown's soul went marching on.
Glory hallelujah ! Glory hallelujah !
146
"Vengeance is mine," saitb the Lord; "I will repay."
The Almighty always indicates His man. Beware, ye
Americans, how you treat me, lest His wrath be kindled
and you go down in blood and desolation.
Life is an enigma. This in a strange world. Often
men are governed by passion and not by reason. The
mob crucified the Saviour of mankind, and Paul, his
great Apostle, went to an ignominious death. This hap-
pened many centuries ago. For eighteen centuries no
men have exerted such a tremendous influence on the
civilization of the race as the despised Galilean and His
great apostle. They did well their work and left the re-
sult with the Almighty Father, and so must all inspired
men.
I count myself fortunate, indeed, that my case has been
tried before so able and careful a jurist. I am glad your
honor is a gentlemen of broad views. Christian sen-
timent, and clear head. I appear before your honor
in a dual capacity : First, as a prisoner indicted for
"murder;" secondly, as my own counsel in part, as
I have a right to do under the law of every State
in the Union. Certain witnesses have excited my wrath
by their perjury, and I have denounced them in plain
language. For this I have the example of the meek and
lowly Jesus. How does this sound !
"Ye generation of vipers!" "Ye scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? "
Christ denounced iniquity in plain language and so do I.
In general, I am satisfied with your honor's proposed
instructions, but I would humbly suggest that the jury
147
be charged as follows : That if they believe that I believed
it was right for me to remove the President, because I,
had special divine authority for so doing, they will acquit,
on the ground, that I was overpowered by the Deity, i. e.,
that I was suffering from transitory mania. Sickles, Mc-
Farland, and Hiscock were acquitted on the ground of
transitory mania.
Your honor's instructions cover this ground in part,
but not quite so strong as I here state it, and I now ask
your honor to charge as suggested.
I ask it in the name of the American judiciary, of which
your honor is so distiuguished a member. I ask it in the
name of the American people, whose representative in
this case your honor is. I ask it in the name of the
Deity, whose servant I was when I shot the President.
I ask it for the sake of your honor's judicial reputation
and for the sake of the Deity's inspiration and my vindi-
cation. Your honor has suggested that the law of juris-
diction in this case may be different from what some of
the leading Washington lawyers say it is. Should it be
necessary to have your honor pass finally on this issue, I
expect we shall find plenty of authority to show that your
honor has no jurisdiction. I am also of the opinion that
the court in banc will so decide if necessary. The judi-
ciary of this District is not surpassed by that of the ablest
judiciary in this Union. Chief-Justice Cartter is the
peer of any justice on the American bench and so are his
associates.
And now, gentlemen, I must close.
Two months ago you left your homes and loved ones
148
to listen to this case. I have no tlonbt but you have
given it your most solemn and prayerful attention, and
that your verdict will be "not guilty." as charged in the
indictment.
To hang a man in my mental condition on July 2. when
Ifii'edon the President, would be a lasting: disOTace to the
American people, and I am sure you so understand it.
The American people do not want me hung. They are
saying. "Well, if the Peity did it, let it go." The
mothers and daughters of the Eepublic are praying that
you will vindicate my inspiration, and their prayers I ex-
pect will prevail. A woman's instinct is keener than
man's, and I pray you listen to the prayers of these
ladies. How would your mother and wife and daughter
vote on this case ? Have you any doubt but they would
vote for an acquittal ? And why should you not do like-
wise ? There is not the first element of murder in this
case. You might as well hang a man for murder during
the war as to hang me. Under the law. as given by his
honor, you can acquit me with entire credit to your-
selves.
Physical death has no ten'ors for me. Suppose it
possible that I should be sentenced to be hanged in
thirty days. I may die in twenty-four hours. I shall not
go until my time. I have al\says been a praying man,
and I think I stand well with the Deity. I am sure I do
in this case, for I certainly never should have sought to
remove the President had the Deity not pressed me
into it.
It is said that if I know the " difference between right
149
and wrong" in removing the President, I violated hu-
man law, and ought to be hanged. But this is not the
law, and, I say, the President's removal was right, because
I had divine authority to do it. Admitting for the mo-
ment that I did violate the law of this District against
murder, I reply, what of it ? Thousands of persons have
violated the letter of the law with impunity. If I violated
the law, I did it under divine pressure, for the good of
the American people, and they are willing to let this case
go by default. In our Western domain thousands of
Mormons are daily and nightly violating the law, but the
United States Government do nothing to vindicate the
dignity of the law. During the last decade Mormonism
has spread with fi'ightful rapidity, and to-day nothing
but another war can suppress it.
The Federal Government is responsible for Mormonism.
Let the President and Congress suppress this gigantic,
spiritual, and social despotism. If I were President I
would clean out these detestable Mormons in some way,
and that right speedily.
And now. gentlemen, I leave this case with you.
At the last great day you and all men will stand in the
presence of the Deity crying for mercy and justice. As
you act here so will be your final abode in the great here-
after. I beg you do not get the Deity down on you by
meddling with this case. I beg. for your own sakes and
for the sake of the American people, and for the sake
of generations yet unborn, that you let this case alone.
You cannot afford to touch it. Let your verdict be that
it was the Deity's act, not mine. When the President
150
was shot his Cabinet telegraphed to foreign nations
that it was the act of a " madman," and it will be far
better every way that it be officially decided that it was
the act of a "madman.''
The newspaper report of my delivery continues as fol-
lows :
Guiteau then proceeded to read from a newspaper his
extended "address to the jury," given to the press on
Sunday last. His manner to the casual observer seemed
as completely self-possessed as usual, but, behind the
outward appearance of composure, there was an intensity
of feeling which was only held in control through the
undoubted strength of will and nerve which the prisoner
has shown all the way through. His excitement was be-
trayed by a slight hectic spot upon each cheek of his usu-
ally colorless face, and by the unusual deliberation with
which he began and for some time continued to speak.
Whether this excitement was from the merely superficial
e£fect upon his emotions, naturally incident to the occa-
sion, or whether it proceeded from a deeper and more
overpowering influence, it were difficult to divine. What-
ever the origin or character of the feeling, it finally gained
the ascendency over his powers of control, and, as he
reached that point in his speech, '• I have always served
the Lord, and whether I live or die" — he broke down
completely, stopped, tried to choke down the rising lump
in his throat, but found it impossible to keep back a
genuine sob. Taking out his handkerchief he buried his
face in it for a few seconds, wiped his eyes, and with a
determined effort started on again. After this incident
the prisoner continued to read his address, occasionally
adding brief comments upon the text. All appearance
of nervousness gradually wore off, and with the utmost
composure the prisoner read on with an attempt at every
151
conceivable form of oratorical, rhetorical, and dramatic
effect. His description of the taking off of the Px'esident
was given with striking effect. At times he closed his
ej'es or turned them heavenward, waving his body back
and forth, sinking his voice to a whisper or raising it to
a high treble. At times the intensity of his utterances
seemed to react upon him, but the effect was only transi-
tory, and with the exception of one instance noted there
was no other indication of his breaking down. At fre-
quent intervals he paused to emphasize some sentence or
sentiment by repeating it or commenting upon it. At
one time, pausing, he leaned toward the jury, and em-
phasizing with his head and hands, said with great so-
lemnity of utterance : " I tell you, gentlemen, just as sure
as there is a God in heaven, if a hair of ray head is
harmed, this nation will go down in blood. You can put
my body in the grave, but there will be a day of reck-
oning."
On January 26, the day after the verdict, I wrote and
published this address :
To the American People:
Twelve men say I wickedly murdered James A. Gar-
field. They did it on the false notion that I am a disap-
pointed office-seekei'. My speech they say made no im-
pression on them. I am not surprised at their verdict,
considering their class. They do not pretend to be
Christian men, and therefore did not appreciate the idea
of inspiration They are men of the world and of
moderate intelligence, and therefore are not capable of
appreciating the character of my defence. According to
one of them, " We all had a grog at each meal and a
cigar afterwards," which shows their style and habits.
Meu of this kind cannot represent the great Christian
nation of America. Had they been high-toned Christian
152
gentlemen their verdict would have been " Not guilty,
because of insanity." The mere outward act of shooting
would have been the same, whatever the motive. If I
had been a disappointed office-seeker, which is absolutely
false (as I prove by my papers and by Mr. Bi'ooks' testi-
mony on July 2 and 3) the outward act of shooting would
have been the same, as if I had been directed by the Deity
to do it, or believed myself so directed to do it, (which is
the literal truth,) as I prove by all my papers and talk on
the subject. This jury had not sufficient intelligence to
see that point, and entirely ignored the political and
patriotic necessity for the act, which all Christian and
intelligent people see. For this reason I am entitled to
a new trial if for no other, and we have a prodigious
amount of exceptions. I want to employ two or three
first-class lawyers to take charge of my case. The prin-
cipal point will be to show the non-jurisdiction of this
court to try this indictment, because the President died
in New Jersey. The authorities on this point are con-
flicting, but some of the best lawyers in America say, that
the predominance of authorities are against the jurisdic-
tion of this court. I desire the court in banc to pass
upon this question, and have no doubt but the high-
toned. Christian gentlemen representing the Washington
court in banc, will give it their most careful attention, to
the end, that if the Deity intended to protect me from
legal liability herein, by allowing the President to depart
gracefully and peacefully in New Jersey, that I have the
benefit of the Deity's intention. I consider it a special
providence in my favor, and I ask the court in banc so to
consider it. I have received some checks, but many of
them have proved worthless, which shows the low char-
acter of the men that send them. I need money to
employ counsel. There are many people in America
that believe in God and in my inspiration, and that
153
I am a patriot. To you, men and women of
America, I appeal. I ask you in the name of justice
to come speedily to my relief. Come in person or
by letter. If you send money, send a postal order.
With competent legal help I can get out of this, with
the Lord's help, and I am sure of that. But good law-
yers do not work for nothing. I want to employ two or
three first-class lawyers to represent me in banc. If I
had had competent counsel I should not have talked so
much in court, but I disagree with the theory of Mr. Sco-
ville, and it has made it unpleasant for both parties and
has been a great damage to my defence. Judge Porter says
I am right; and I agree witli him, although I know he
has abused and vilified me outrageously, when I had no
alternative save to answer back, which I did in my usual
plain way. I have been convicted, but the verdict cannot
be enforced until June in any event, and probably not
until September. I give myself no anxiety on account of
the verdict. I hardly expected an acquittal ; tbe most I
expected was a disagreement, and then I proposed to
test the question of jurisdiction in the court in banc. It
is purely a legal question, and if the opinion of some of
the best lawyers at the American bar is sustained by the
banc, it will end this case. I can get a hearing on this in
April. I make a special appeal to the ladies of America
to come to ray rescue. Some of them have written me
delightful letters, and I ask each and every one of them
to respond to the extent of their means, and to see me in
person if possible. I return my sincere thanks for their
letters and sympathy. You ladies believe in God and in
my inspiration, and that I have really saved the nation a
great trouble and a great expense, to wit ; another war.
Last spring General Garfield had the Republican party
in a frightful condition, and it was getting worse every
hour. To-day, everybody of sense is satisfied with Gen-
154
eral Arthur's administration, and the country is bappy
and prosperous. Only good bas come from General Gar-
field's removal, wbicb is condusive evidence tbat tbe in-
spiration came from tbe Deity. He bas repeatedly con-
firmed my acts since July 2. Therefore, let all persons
quietly acquiesce in tbe expressed will of tbe Deity. I
am God's man in this matter, just as truly as tbe " de-
spised Galilean " was God's man. They said He was a
blasphemer and a glutton, &c., &c., and it seemed a small
thing for His acquaintances to kill Him ; but His death
stirred tbe wrath of the Almighty, and He got even with
them forty years later, at tbe destruction of Jerusalem,
A. D. 70, and He will get even with the American people
if a hair of my head is harmed. God will vindicate me
even if this nation rolls in blood ! Mere physical death is
nothing to me. Under the law I cannot be executed in
any event until June. I may die a dozen times before
then, so I have no trouble about tbat. I shall not go
before my time. I bad rather be hung, so far as physi-
cal death is concerned, than die from a painful illness or
meet with a railroad or steamboat accident. I hardly
think I am destined to be bung, and therefore give my-
self no thought on that ; but I am anxious to have my
character and inspiration vindicated. To that end I need
help, as herein mentioned. My friends need not be
ashamed of me. Some people think I am the greatest
man of this age, and that my name will go into history
as a patriot by tbe side of Washington and Grant.
CHARLES GUITEAU.
United States Jail, Washington, D. C.
On February 2, I wrote and published this address :
A tramp says I stole his shirt. All statements of
this kind are false. I never had anything to do with
155
tramps or disreputable characters. I am high-toned ; too
high-toned for newspaper devils to notice, and I want
them to let me alone. I never saw such a diabolical
spirit as some newspapers have towards me ; especially
those that were cursing Garfield last sjDring. Since he
was shot they have deified him and cursed me for doing
the very thing they said ought to be done — viz.,
remove him ! When God formed a man that had
the brains and nerve to do it, these newspaper
devils deify Garfield and curse God's man ! But the
Deity will get even with these fellows. If I were dead
these devils would not be satisfied. If I had been Pres-
ident and wrecked the Republican party, as Garfield did,
I say I ought to have been shot, and posterity will say
so, whatever this perverse and crooked generation may
say. " Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell f It is bard to tell how some news-
paper men will escape that place if they continue to slan-
der God's man.
My mail comes to the jail now. Any friends wish-
ing'to see me in person or write to me can do so. Any
one having sent me an important letter and received no
answer can write again, and I will see that it is an-
swered. No notice given to anouymons or crank letters.
Photograph with autograph, 81, or $9 per dozen. (Au-
tographs 25 cents.) This photograph is a great improve-
ment every way on the sitting of July 2 taken by
Bell. My hair is parted and my beard off, and I look ten
yeai's younger. It is an historical picture, and any one
can get it by sending me the price, and in no other way.
Under no circumstances will I allow my relatives or any
one else to have anything to do with my body. If ne-
cessary I shall will it to some large cemetery. I shall
probably need it myself for some time yet. Scoville's
156
proposition is simply infamous and barbarous and not to be
tolerated for a moment.
CHARLES GUITEAU.
United States Jail, Washington, D. C.
On February 4 I was sentenced to be banged on June
30, 1882. The leading papers published the following
report, prepared by the New York Associated Press :
Mr. Scoville, counsel for the prisoner, then filed a mo-
tion in arrest of judgment, which was overruled by the
court, and exception taken.
The Prisoner. I desire to ask, your honor, in my own
behalf, if there is anything I need to do before your
honor to preserve my rights in banc. I expect to have
two or three of the best lawyers in America, but I want
to know whether I must make any motion in order to
preserve the record for them.
The Court. Every right shall be preserved.
The Prisoner. How much time have I in which to pre-
sent my exceptions ?
Mr. Scoville then stated that he understood under sec-
tion 845 of the Revised Statutes that he had until the
next term to file his bill of exceptions.
The Court. No, not exactly that; there is no particu-
lar time fixed for preparing the exceptions. The term
will be kept open.
Mr. Scoville. How long will I have ?
The Court. The term will be kept open as long as you
desire.
The Prisoner. I do not desire any advantage shall be
taken of me. I expect to have my lawyers procured
shortly, and they will pull me through the court in banc.
Mr. Scoville. I have till the 1st of March to file my
bill of exceptions ?
157
The Court. Yes.
The Prisoner. That is understood.
The District Attorney. Let it be understood, then,
that the bill of exceptions shall be in by the 1st of March.
Mr. Sco\^LLE. If I can do it in a week I will.
The Prisoner. I am here and I do not propose to
leave this matter to you. I have my opinion of you as a
lawyer. You convicted me with your jackass theories
and consummate nonsense.
Mr. ScoviLLE. I move to postpone the final execution
of judgment in this case to a reasonable time beyond the
next term of court, not exceeding thirty days after the
end of said term.
The Prisoner. Do I understand that it is necessary to
pass sentence until the matter is passed upon by the
court in banc ?
The Court. Yes ; sentence is passed, but the execution
is deferred.
The Prisoner. Within what time will your honor pass
sentence ?
Mr. ScoviLLE. Keep quiet.
The Prisoner. You keep your mouth still. I am
doing this matter myself. You convicted me by your
wild theory and consummate asinine character all through.
If the case had been kept entirely away from you I would
have had two of the best lawyers in America, and there
Avould have been no conviction. I had letters from them,
and could have had them last October. I care nothing
about your intentions. I want brains and experience.
Let me alone and I will pull out of this. You got me
into this trouble.
The District Attorney. The duty is now imposed
upon me to ask the court to pass sentence in accordance
with the verdict.
158
The Prisoner. I ask your honor to defer that as long
as you can.
The Court, (to the prisoner.) Stand up. (The pris-
oner rose.) Have you anything to say why sentence
should not be pronounced ?
In a quiet voice the prisoner began his speech, but
after he had dehvered himself of two or three sentences
his manner became more agitated. When he came to
his prediction that the American nation would roll in
blood he raised his voice to its highest pitch, and brought
his clenched hand down with nervous force to emphasize
his declaration. When he referred to the death of Christ
he gave his voice that declamatory roll which throughout
the trial has characterized his allusions to religious
matters.
His response to Judge Cox's question was as follows :
GuiTEAu's Speech.
T am not guilty of the charge set forth in the indict-
ment. It was God's act, not mine, and God will take
care of it. He will take care of it, and don't let the
American people forget it. He will take care of it and
every officer of this Government, from the Executive
down to that marshal, taking in every man on the jury,
and every member of this bench will pay for it, and the
American nation will roll in blood if my body goes into
the ground and I am hung. The Jews put the despised
Galilean into the grave. For a time they triumphed,
but at the destruction of Jerusalem, forty years after-
ward, the Almighty got even with them. I am not afraid
of death. I am here as God's man. Kill me to-morrow
if you want to. I am God's man, and have been fi'om
the start.
159
Judge Cox then proceeded to pass sentence, and after
some preliminary remarks said :
You will have due opportunity of having any errors I
may have committed during the course of the trial passed
upon by the court in banc, but njieauwhile it is necessary
for me to pronounce the sentence of the law — that you
be taken hence to the common jail of the District, from
whence you came, and there be kept in confinement, and
on Friday, the 30th day of June, 1882, you be taken to
the place prepared for the execution, within the walls of
said jail, and there, between the hours of twelve and two
P. M., you be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and
may the Lord have mercy on your soul.
During the reading Guiteau stood apparently unmoved,
his hand resting on the table and with his gaze riveted
, upon the judge. It was the longest time he had stood
up in court. When the final words were spoken he
struck the table violently and shouted:
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul. I'd
rather stand where I do than where that jurj' does and
where your honor does. I'm not afraid to die. I stand
here as God's man, and God Almighty will curse every
man who has had a part in procuring this unrighteous
verdict. Nothing bat good has come from Garfield's re-
moval, and that will be the verdict of posterity on my
inspiration. I don't care a snap for the verdict of this
corrupt generation. I would rather a thousand times be
in my position than that of those who have hounded me
to death. I shall have a glorious flight to glory, but that
miserable scoundrel, Corkhill, will have a permanent job
down below, where the devil is preparing for him.
After apparently talking himself out the prisoner
160
turned to bis brother, and without the shghtest trace of
excitement conversed for some minutes before being
taken from the courtroom.
These letters were published February 20 and ad-
dressed to my attorney, Hon. Charles H. Reed :
Mr. Reed : I will give you and Mr. and Gen.
my note, payable one year hence, for $5,000 each
if you will get me out of here. I think you can do it on
the ground of the non-jurisdiction of the couri I have
just written to my brother to make this offer to Gen. •
. I depend on him to secure General and I de-
pend on you to secure Mr. -. Please call with
Mr. without delay. I presume I could make
$50,000 next winter lecturing if I get out of this. I
have an offer of $500 per night for six nights from Bos-
ton now.
Yours truly,
CHARLES GUITEAU.
United States Jail,
Washington, D. C, Feb. 11, 1882.
Mr. Reed : I consider the non-jurisdiction of the court
my strong point. I asked Judge Cox before I was sen-
tenced if I ought to do anything or make any motion to
preserve my rights in banc, and he said "no." Now, I
wish you would see him and Mr. immediately
and find out positively if it is necessary for me to make
a formal motion before Judge Cox to press this point in
banc. If so, I desire it made at once. I presume Judge
Cox will allow it on the ground that he misled me.
Yours, &c.,
CHARLES GUITEAU.
February 14, 1882.
161
A Brooklyn newspaper recently published a lengthy in-
terview with my brother, John W. Guiteau. of Boston,
and I extract from it. The interview is headed " Guiteau,"
and is about me :
Has he much hope of escape from the sentence of the
court ?
He says he eats well, sleeps well, and feels well, and it is
of no consequence to him what becomes of his body. He
says they may bury it, but they can't harm him ; he is God's
man. And he always says, with great excitement of
manner, pounding the table, that if he is harmed this
nation will roll in blood ; " but," he adds, "as a matter of
fact, I expect to live to be President ; but if my time
has come, I am as well satisfied to be hanged, if God wills
it, as to die any other way." He says " future genera-
tions will yet see, and the American people will yet see,
that I am a patriot and have saved the nation from war
under the inspiration of Deity." He seems to h^ve great
hopes upon the motion for a new trial, and the exceptions
to the jurisdiction of the court, and believes that it was
a special providence, in order to save his life, that the
President was permitted to be removed to New Jersey
and die there. He also thinks that public sentiment
among the best people is rapidly changing in his favor ;
not that they believe in his insanity, but in the truth of
his inspiration, which is his only defence for the act. He
said to me : "I notice that you keep saying in the papers
that I am insane ; that always makes me mad ; I am no
more insane than you are, and never have been. You
and Scoville are both cranked on this defence. You both
need some of my brains." He says he had transitory
mania on the 2d of July and for a month previous ; and
that is his true and only legal defence, and would have
been successful, as in the case of Cole and Sickles, if the
162
case had been handled by au able lawyer like General
Butler. No one not familiar with the traits he has
inherited from his family can appreciate the tenacity
with which he depends upon the exact truth as a defence,
and it was because he considered that the facts were
violated by the witnesses and the attorneys on both sides
that he became so denunciatory in court. He wanted
the recorei right, as he repeatedly said in court, and has
since said to me, in order that future generations may
be enabled to judge truthfully of his character and act.
Annie J. Dunmire.
This lady has taken upon herself to furnish for publi-
cation "Guiteau's Married Life." Her narrative is in the
sensational style, and no doubt she was well paid for it.
In 1869, after a short acquaintance and te/i-honr no-
tice, I foolishly married this woman ! I met her at the
Y. M. (|. Association, of Chicago, where she was em-
ployed as librarian. She came from Philadelphia, where
she had b§en seduced, and had a child by a young- blood
— a married man. I had no business and no money at
that time. I was not m any way prepared to take care of a
wife. She was a poor, uneducated girl without position or
friends, and about the last person for me to have married.
She was very thin and delicate in appearance ; stupid and
stubborn in disposition, and our marriage was most un-
fortunate. As soon as I was married I opened a law
office in Chicago and made about two thousand dollars
that year. We always lived and dressed well ; but we
never lived together a week without having a serious quar-
rel. After four years of this experience I made up my mind
163
I would sever the bond, and we were divorced, much to
my satisfaction, in 1874. Since then I have known little
about her, and care nothing, save to wish her well. Her
narrative contains much that is false, but it is not worth
my notice to correct it in detail. We were divorced
without issue. I have been strictly virtuous for six or
eight years, and have not dissipated in any way.
A New York daily paper talks thus about a war pre-
vented by Garfield's removal, which I herewith annex, as
showing the drift of public sentiment :
Brief as the Garfield administration was, every week
brings to light some new scandal which had its origin in
the busy, scheming brain of the Secretary of State. A
few days ago we laughed at Guiteau's pretence that his bul-
let had saved the country from a war, and yet to-day, we have
the proofs that at the time President Garfield died a war
was imminent. It was not the kind of war which was pre-
dicted but it was a war which could not have failed to be
even more disastrous. If Mr. Blaine had had his way, in-
stead of the profound peace which we now enjoy, the
call to arms would be heard, and our shipyards would be
busy on both shores of the continent fitting out a fleet
to carry an army of occupation to the soil of a sister re-
public. * * *
Never before in the history of the Republic was there
such a Qviixotic politician at the head of the Government.
His schemes were reckless and daring, while his policy
was guided neither by common sense nor common hon-
esty. No sentiment, either of humanity or of duty, could
reach him, and even while he stood by the bedside of his
dying chief, he was plotting to embroil his country in a
war, whose only result could be to benefit the corrupt
rings of which he is the chief.
164
Even for a country as rich and as strong as the United
States a war with CbiU was an undertaking of no small
magnitude. An army would have had to be conveyed a
long distance, and it would have been necessary to create
both an army and a navy. Alone, Chili would have been
more of a match for us than the thirteen colonies were
for Great Britain in 1776. But in this contest Chili
would not have been alone. Both England and France
could scarcely have refrained from taking a hand in the
fight. All the world, except Peru, would have been
against us, and in such a contest Peru vpould have been
a very poor second. For once we would have met our
match, and it requires no great foi'esight to perceive that
we should have come out of it impoverished, shattered,
and perhaps dismembered.
* * * We now see that Guiteau's bullet saved the
country from a very grave danger, which could only have
ended in a desolating war. The President, it is only too
plain, was putty in the hands of his scheming Secretary.
Blaine was bent upon a scheme, boldly conceived and
craftily planned, out of which the roll of drums and the
roar of cannon and the clash of arms would have been
sure to come. It was to be a war of occupation and con-
quest, and it was at variance with a long-settled policy
of the Republic and our notions of national and interna-
tional polity.
The same newspaper in a later editorial talks thus :
Shall we come to the conclusion that seems forced
upon us — that Guiteau was really inspired ?
When he felt the Divine pressure upon him which com-
pelled him to remove President Garfield to avert a bloody
war, he could not have seen, except through the eye of
inspired vision, that a war was really imminent. That
he was mistaken in its character is not remarkable, for it
165
is not always given, even to prophets, to see clearly the
fore-knowlege of the Lord. Be all this as it may, it is
now certain that the effect of his act, as he proclaimed it
in court, was practically to avert what he said it had
averted. * * * *■ While Giiiteau was on trial
we saw no reason why a God, who interests Himself in
the affairs of men, should wish to reverse His action at
Chicago in June and at the polls in November, 1880.
We are now compelled to admit that even a God who was
willing to elect Garfield President of the United States
could not foresee the wickedness of Blaine as Secretary
of State. It might somehow be necessary that Guiteau
should wear the mantle of inspiration in order to under-
mine the designs of the Mephistopheles who obtained
power in consequence of a well-intended act of Provi-
dence.
A calm consideration of Blaine's wickedness in his pro-
jected war with Chili is almost impossible. It was to
have been undertaken at a great cost of blood and treas-
ure, only to assure possession of a guano heap and make
a private speculation profitable. It was a cunning and
crafty scheme, by which a few men were to make money
by the sacrifice of many lives. Shudder as we may at
Guiteau's act, it was his inspiration which prevented the
success of the crime which Blaine contemplated without
any pretence of inspiration.
In view of the revelations of the last few days, who
can deny that it was the sacrifice of one life which saved
the lives of thousands and perhaps the safety and per-
petuity of the Republic itself ?
I condense the following from the New York Herald
March 2, 1882 :
Reasoning Mania. — Guiteau's case Analyzed.
A full attendance of the Medico-Legal Society was pres-
166
ent at the monthly meeting last evening in the rooms on
Thirty-first street. Dr. Charles S. Wood presided, and
introduced Dr. Hammond, who read a paper on "Rea-
soning Mania ; its Medical and Medico-Legal Relations,
with Special Reference to the case of Charles Guiteau."
The doctor passed around among the members a plaster
cast of the head of Guiteau taken by order of the Gov-
ernment.
The paper read by the doctor produced a powerful im-
pression, and was listened to with the profoundest inter-
est, being heartily applauded at the end. The doctor
traced the first scientific attempts to treat reasoning
mania by Pliny in 1801, and later on by Esquirol and by
the younger Pliny, who called the affection " Mania of
Character." After referring to the symptons of the vic-
tims of the disease as given by these distinguished French
writers, who were the first to differentiate the affection,
the existence of which had also been affirmed by the best
English and German alienists, such as Prichard, Con-
nolly, Bucknillard, Mandsley and Hoffbauer, Caspar,
Griesinger, Liman, and Kraft-Ebing. Dr. Hammond
gave his own view of its characteristics.
Among other things Dr. Hammond said :
As to derangement of the intellect, I am quite sure
that, though the emotions and the will are primarily and
chiefly involved, there is more or less aberration of the
purely intellectual faculties in every case of reasoning
mania. Certainly this has been so in every instance that
has come under my observation. To a superficial exam-
ination the intellect may appear to be unaffected, as it
very generally happens that there is an absence of marked
delusion. But a ready susceptibility to be impressed by
slight exciting causes; an unquestioning faith in their own
powers, when in reality these are far below the average.
167
and an entire disregard of their duties and obligations
and of the ordinary proprieties of life, are certainly indi-
cations of intellectual derangement.
Applying the foregoing to Guiteau, and considering
the manner in which he conducted himself while being
tried for his life, his abuse of his friends who were en-
deavoring to save him, his pi'aise of judge and jury and
opposing counsel at one time, aud his fierce denunciation
of them at another, his speech in his defence, his entire
lack of appreciation of the circumstances surrounding
him, his evident misapprehension of the feelings of the
people toward him, his belief in the intercession of
prominent persons in his behalf and of his eventual
triumph, and the many other indications with which you
are all familiar, especially, his conductafter sentence was
pronounced, I have no hesitation in asserting that Gui-
teau is the subject of reasoning mania, and hence a lu-
natic. There is not an asylum under the charge of any
one of the medical experts for the prosecution that does
not contain patients less insane than he. The emotional
philosophers, desiring him to be sane, still endeavor to
persuade themselves that their wishes and facts are the
same thing, and, to the disgrace of American psychologi-
cal medicine,' they are sustained by certain physicians
who appeared as witnesses for the prosecution. To shut
our eyes to his exact condition and to try to flatter our-
selves that he was of normally constituted mind when he
shot the President, is not only cowardly ; but it is impol-
itic. The conviction and execution will be without the
force of an example upon hundreds of others of unsound
minds, who may be contemplating the commission of
crimes. And it will lead to the erroneous conclusion
that there was a sane man, a man in the full possession
of his mental faculties, capable of killing the President of
the United States for the purpose of uniting the two
168
wings of the Republican party. Was there ever a more
insane motive than this, and was there ever a man whose
whole career, from childhood to the present day, has af-
forded a more striking example of that form of mental
derangement called reasoning mania ?
When the doctor concluded the chair called on Dr.
Ralph L. Parsons to open the discussion on the paper 1
just read. Dr. Parsons%aid he was long of the opinion
that this paper was entirely correct. " The characteriza-
tion of this Guiteau form of insanity," he said, " places
it equally strong on the basis of any other kind of in-
sanity."
Dr. Spitzka said that there was a prevailing delusion
that an expert in insanity had a profound knowledge of
pathology, physiology, metaphysics, and many other
things, but that was knocked on the head at W^ashing-
ton. He examined Guiteau before he testified, and he
found that he was full of haHucinations. He wanted the
mission to Austria and couldn't speak a word of German,
and the mission to France, when he could not speak
French. He believed he was doing a great act for the
benefit of the American people. The form of insanity
from which he is suffering is a German one and is equal
to original insanit}'.
Dr. Barry said he agreed a good deal with the last
speaker and with much that Dr. Hammond said. He
thought it was impossible to have any line of demarca-
tion between the moral and intellectual faculties. He
made some amusing allusions to the Guiteau trial, and
said he knew some of the inside workings, and was in the
caucus of the prosecution. Guiteau was put through
after the way they kill hogs in Chicago ! No matter how
the hog went in at one end of a cylinder, he came out at
the other still a hog. The prosecution was determined
169
Gaiteau should come out the way they wanted, and tbey
succeeded.
Dr. Manu said he was surprised at the position the ex-
perts took on the Guiteau trial. The form of Guiteau's
insanity was theomania, and, if he lived, it would de-
velop in melancholic mania or perhaps suicide. He was
clearly insane, as Dr. Hammond says.
Dr. Gi-ay, of Brooklyn, said that every case like
Guiteau's, of proved insanity, should be sent to a lunatic
asylum, as the hanging of such a man would not deter
others from following his example.
Dr. Sayre said the experts should have made the ex-
amination of Guiteau before the trial came off, and if
found insane by a body of expert doctors he should be
sent for life to a lunatic asylum, and the Government
would be spared expense and scandal, and it would not
go forth to the world that a sane man had murdered the
President.
My mail is received daily. I herewith attach some
letters. I withhold the names and sometimes the place.
FKOM MASSACHUSETTS— STICK TO GOD.
Boston, Jan. 23, 1882.
Sir : Pardon me if I send you a few words of greeting,
as the hour draws near in which your fate is to be sealed.
I have listened to the oratory and eloquence of Davidge
and Porter, as well as the plea of your own counsel, and
I can find nothing so logical in all those ],000 pages of
words, as I find in your few words to the honorable
court, as follows : " If the jury believes that I believed
it was right for me to remove the President, because I
bad special divine authority so to do, they will acquit on
the ground of transitory mania." You have the whole
thing in a uut-shell. It don't make any difference how
170
sane you are to-daj' . or was a year ago or less. Was
you faitbful to yourself the 2d of July ? For fidelity to
cue's self is all the standard there is to right and wrong.
Right as you see it, truth as you see it, duty as you see
it, though not perhaps as others see it. We do not all
see God alike. We do not all hear Him alike. We do not
all worship Him alike.
I am looking out from my window upon the scraggy
lines of an elm tree, surrounded by the statues of Charles
Sumner, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, and Horace
Mann. This tree was the chosen one for the judicial
murder of four persons. Yv'hat had they done ? They
were exiled Quakers who had returned to Boston. Mary
Dyer, a woman, when led up to this tree, was offered her
life if she would go away ; or, in other words, if she
would hear that still small voice as her persecutors did.
But no. She said, "I hear a voice you cannot hear,
that says I must not stay away. I see a finger you can-
not see, that points me the way. Which shall I obey 1
Nay ; in obedience to the will of the Lord I came, and
in His will I will abide faithful to. death." And she of-
fered her neck to the rope. What Christian minister
to-day commends that fiendish act ? Is God dead ? Can
no one see or hear Him to-day, only in just such a way
as may be pointed out to him by some melaucholj' fel-
low? Now, if God told you to shoot the President,
stick to it. Who should know better than you ? You
touched the key-note in those few words you used in
your plea. And if God be with you, who shall be against
you? Though the American States may hang your
body, and the American church may damn your soul,
whoever believes in progress will find a friend in
Charles Guiteau.
171
FROM INDIANA— THE SAVIOUR OF TOUR COUNTRY.
FoKT Wayne, Indiana, Dec. 30, 1881.
Dear Sir : I feel it my duty as a Christian to address
you a few words of sympathy in your present unhappy
situation. I do not see why this Government should put
on its whole armor of power and use the whole U. S.
Treasury in the attempt to convict you of a crime of
which you are not guilty. You, nothing but the humble
instrument of the " God who moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform," to save our blessed land from
destruction by the removal of Garfield, and by putting
Arthur in his stead. You were the chosen one from
among the faithful to do the will of the ever living God, and
for you goes up prayers at early morn, noon, and night,
to the throne of Him who doeth all things well, and who
had predestined you from the cradle to be the second
saviour of your country ; and every presbyter and their
hearers will swell the prayers to Him who sent you.
Fear not what the ungodly Corkhill and Porter may do,
because the Lord is your shield and your strength, and
His will be done as it was from the beginning. You
were selected to save our party and through our party
our country, and through our country our religion. The
religion that was landed on Plymouth Rock.
FROM WISCONSIN— THE DEITY WILL KEEP YOU
HARMLESS.
Eau Claire, Wis.; Jan. 29, 1882.
You will please pardon the liberty I am taking in thus
addressing you. I have been greatly interested in your
trial throughout. You claim that your removing the Presi-
dent was by Divine inspiration. Do you not feet that
the same power which inspired you to do the act will
still watch over you and save you from harm ? If you
172
were only the instrument or means used to carry out a
plan of Deity, then you are not responsible for the act.
He who knoweth all things surely must have seen the
end and have provided for all emergencies.
FROM OHIO— KING OF THE STALWARTS.
Hon. Charles Guiteatj :
I am ouly a maid of Ohio's parts,
And you are Kiug of the Stalwarts ;
But will you be so kind iu my behalf,
As to favor me with your autograph ?
FROM TENNESSEE— WANTS ME FOR PRESIDENT.
Knoxville, Tenn., Dec. 30, 1881.
Dear Sir : Allow us to express onr unbounded admi-
ration for you. We second the motion to nominate you
for President.
FROM THE OLD DOMINION— STAND TO YOUR COLORS.
Norfolk, Jan. 13, 1882.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
The Stalwarts of the Old Dominion send you greeting
and wish you the best future. Stand to your colors.
Warm up old Corkhill. Let the world know that true
patriotism is not dead in America yet.
In the envelope containing the above letter this was
enclosed :
Jan. 13, 1882.
Mr. Guiteau :
You have the fullest sympathy of our community and
we consider you one of the greatest and most intellectual
men of the day, and think you have treated Corkhill ex-
actly right for the sneaking way he has treated you, and
173
we are confident of your ability to come out all right,
as we are fully confident of your inspiration.
FROM ILLINOIS— SUSTAINED BY DIVINITY.
I deeply deplore your pending doom. Will money as-
sist you any now ? Being a widow left with much prop-
erty, I would willingly help you. There surely could be
no better way to invest a thousand, or two, than to help a
fellow mortal condemned by man but sustained by di-
vinity.
Please send me a lock of your hair as a memento of
the man who was brave enough to sacrifice his life for his
beloved party.
FROM NEW YORK— FINAL SUCCESS SURE.
New York, Feb. 1, 1882.
The Honorable Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : Will you kindly grant me the favor of pos-
sessing your autograph, and adding it to those of other
illustrious men. I have been a close observer of your
struggle with Porter, and although victory appears now
with the Government, I think your final success is be-
yond all question. With profound respect for the manly
course j^our have pursued, I remain
Faithfully yours,
HANG THE DEITY IF ANYBODY.
Charles Guiteau :
Your inspiration is characterized by the prosecution as
irreverent and blasphemous. That repudiates the idea
of inspiration. If the jury concurs in that view, they
then declare that there is no Divine inspiration. If that
be their verdict it repudiates the Bible, " believed to be
the inspired book of men."
174
If, on the other hand, they decide that you were in-
spired by God, you cau only have been the instrument in
His hands, '' an accessoi*y to the killing, and the princi-
pal being known He should be held responsible." Let
them hang the Deity if anybody.
FROM DELAWARE— EYES FILLED WITH TEARS.
Frederica, Jan. 9, 1882.
Dear Sir : I have been reading the papers and very
truly sympathize with you. There were great arguments
on the subject from the people of this town, but now,
when the news is a little contrary, their eyes fill with tears.
They will be happy to hear of your acquittal, but be of
good cheer ; the Saviour will be with you.
A FRENCH-CANADIAN— TO ADMIRE YOU I DO NOT
LEAVE OFF.
Eepentigny, Jan. 3c?, 1882.
Dear Sir : As a French-Canadian, I must tell you that
I sympathize very much with you, and that to admire you
I do not leave off.
FROM CANADA— A NEW TRIAL WILL GIVE AN AC-
QUITTAL.
Toronto, 10 Feb., 1882.
Dear Sir : If you think there is any likelihood of the
court granting a new trial, and you are in need of funds
to employ good counsel, I shall be glad to forward you a
draft for a substantial amount upon hearing from you.
I heartily sympathize with you, and consider that another
trial would convince the jury of your innocence.
175
FHOil A PENNSYLVANIA STALWART.
Hareisburg, Dec. 31, 1881.
To the Hon. Charles Guiteau :
When on the 2d daj* of July I heard of the assassina-
tion of "President Garfield,'' I thought the crime horri-
ble, and also thought the hangman's noose too good for
you, but now, since the trial has thrown light on the
case, I, too, believe in your much-talked-of "inspiration."
I have consulted with manv of my brother " Stalwarts,"
and they, too, believe that the removal of " President
Garfield ' was committed by \o\\. through a direct in-
spiration. We earnestly hope that the "court" will see
it in the same light that you and ourselves see it, because
if the jury should render a verdict of "guilty, " it would
be a stigma on the rights of justice and libei'ty.
The prophecies you made at the time of the assassina-
tion have all come true. Peace and harmony reigns
within the party. Keep up good cheer, and you will
come through safe.
FROM MASSACHUSETTS— MIRACLES ARE NOT YET
ENDED.
Don't despair, even if you are brought to the very foot
of the gallows. A thunderbolt will crush your enemies
and release you. Miracles are not yet ended, and such
a man as you will be preserved, even if the very heavens
should fall to do it.
FROM BOSTON— DENOUNCING THE GALLOWS.
Boston, Dec. 30, 1881.
Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : The most hateful and damnable of all crimes
and cruelties ever perpetrated upon the face of the earth
or in the regions of hell is that of capital punishment ;
176
and the man who takes the life of a fellow-man in the
cold blood of the law must have the germ of the very
devil in his heart, or he would revolt from it. It is a
Christian impulse and a Christian's duty to abhor such a
monster as one would the very arch-fiend himself.
FROM MINNESOTA— HOPING I WILL BE PARDONED.
Charles Guiteau, Esq.,
Washinc/tou :
Enclosed find check for fifty dollars. Rest assured I
sympathize with you, and only trust you may be par-
doned by our good President.
And this moves me to say, should I desire President
Arthur to pardon me, I will make a formal requisition on
him under my own hand. I make this announcement
that irresponsible persons may not annoy the President
or me.
FROM A MINISTER.
Boston, 3Iarch 2, 1882.
Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : I have long admired you for your honesty
of purpose and your true Christian character. I am an
earnest believer in your innocence ; that is, that you
were not responsible for the shot that killed President
Garfield. I wish that I could have your autograph, that
it might be handed down to my children and my
children's children.
Yours, with great respect.
FROM MARYLAND.
Baltimore, February 8, 1882.
My Dear Sir : The news of your misfortune has deeply
1*77
afflicted many. Who can foretell what may happen the
next moment? But it is not my intentions to increase
your painful feelings hj my lamentations. Your misfor-
tune is no fault of your own. This should mitigate your
grief and keep up your spirits. Take courage ; when
night is darkest dawn is nearest.
FROM MASSACHUSETTS.
Boston, Jem. 30, 1882.
Mr. GuiTEAu :
Dear Sir : Having been found among the most ardent
admirers of your courage, fortitude, and self-reliance dur-
ing the days of the recent trial, we (my sister and my-
self) have at last found courage to pen these few lines,
begging the honor and pleasure of your correspondence,
or at least a few lines from you as a memento of one who
was willing to risk his life or liberty for the benefit of his
loved but ungrateful country.
From your sympathizing friends,
LAURA AND EVA.
FROM KANSAS— "GUITEAU THE GREAT."
Charles Guiteau :
My Dear Sir : Being a poor boy, and knowing (as but
few seem to appi-eciate) your kind and benevolent disposi-
tion, I beg of you to send me your photograph and auto-
graph, and I promise you that this Western country will
hear from your good deeds. Yes, and it will help to bring
to light your real character. T know, though you be
" Guiteau the Great," you will ever be generous and not
forget the poor.
Believe me your humble servant.
P. S. — The reason I want your photo is to remember
178
the greatest of Americans and to let the people here see
your good face.
FROM NEW YORK— KEEP UP COURAGE.
Sik: We have watched with intense interest the course
of the great trial in which you have borne so important
a part, and must congratulate you upon your heroic be-
havior through it all ; and, although our sympathies are
with you in your defeat this time, yet success may attend
your efforts, if the Lord be with you, in gaining a new
trial ; and all may yet be well if you keep up good cour-
age, as you certainly must, as herein lies the victory.
FROM OHIO.
Hamilton, O., Fd). 4, 1882.
Chaeles Guiteau,
Washington, D. C :
Dear Sir : Accept my sympathy with you in your hour
of misfortune. The darkest cloud has its " silver lining."
FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
West Chester, Pa., Dec 31, 1881.
Charles Guiteau, Esq.:
Dear Sir : The people here are all reading your trial
proceeding with much interest. Glad that you keep up
such courage. We all wish you success in '84. And if
you should run, look out for a big vote from this section.
People of West Chester sympathize with you.
FROM VIRGINIA.
Lexington, Va., Jan. 2, 1882.
Charles Guiteau :
The whole town is in sympathy with you. We pro-
pose to run you in the convention of 1884 for President,
179
and think that you are a smart man, and always have
thought that you ought to be President.
FROM MASSACHUSETTS.
Belchertown, Mass., Dec. 31, 1881.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
Reahzing the fact that the name of Charles Guiteau
will stand as one of the great names in American history,
I should consider it an honor to be the possessor of his
autograph.
FEOM DAKOTA.
Vermillion, Dakota, Jan. 28, 1882.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
I am a little girl living on the wild prairies of Dakota.
I am making a collection of autographs for my album.
Will you favor me with yours ? I should prize it highly.
FROM CALIFORNIA.
San Francisco, Jan. 27, 1882.
Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : I take this method of offering to you my
sympathy, and desire to extend to you any courtesy that
I can. The people of San Francisco are with you, and
desire you to write to our press. I ask you most hum-
bly to give me as a memento (of so great a man) your
autograph.
FROM MASSACHUSETTS— TRUST IN GOD.
Charles Guiteau, Esq. :
Dear Sir : I should be very much pleased if you would
be kind enough to send me your autograph, which I
should prize highly. I have much sympathy for you in
your unfortunate position, and beg you to place your
trust in God, who doeth all things well.
180
FKOM OHIO.
Charles Guiteau :
My friend in Jesus Christ : I am praying to God that
this nation will absolve you for shooting President Gar-
field, when you were a lunatic. You have been a madman
on religion ; that is a fact Avhich cannot be disputed.
FROM BUFFALO, NEW YORK.
Charles Guiteau, Esq'r :
Sir : I have watched the trial ever since it commenced,
and have come to the conclusion that there is not an-
other man in America that could fill your boots. I want
your handwriting to put into my collection, as I have
letters from the following great men :
John Wesley.
Duke of Wellington.
Lord Brougham.
Lord Aberdeen.
Lord Dungannon.
Daniel O'Connell.
Adam Clark.
And many other great men.
FROM KENTUCKY— A FOOLISH VERDICT.
Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir: I, with many others, have watched with in-
tense anxiety your recent trial, and sincerely deplore the
unexpected and foolish verdict that has been rendered.
We admire you for the pluck displayed during your
severe ordeal, and beg of you to be of good cheer as you
will surely receive a new trial, when your true character
will be shown and you will be vindicated, not only before
the eyes of the American people, but of the whole
world. This nation will yet bless you for the noble
I
181
deed you have performed. With many wishes for your
long Hfe and prosperity, I remain yours truly,
FROM ALABAMA.
Selma, Ala., Jan. 10, 1882.
Chakles Guiteau :
Tour time has not come. The Lord is with you as
well as are all liberal-minded men outside the court-room.
Do not despair.
You have well succeeded in entertaining the world for
the last few weeks. May your wit never grow dull, nor
your shadow less.
FROM INDIANA— SHALL MAN OPPOSE HIMSELF TO
GOD'S WILL ?
These sentiments are from an Indiana paper. It was
sent me in a letter :
" Brother Arthur says his illustrious predecessor was
removed by the mysterious will of the Almighty. In this
he agrees with Guiteau. And why, if Guiteau is insane,
isn't Brother Arthur insane ? They agree that it was
God's will that Garfield should be ' removed.' And
shall we oppose ourselves to God's ' will V Shall man
set himself up against God ? Shall man set himself up
against the humble instrument employed by God to exe-
cute His will ? Are we not laying the hand of the law
upon Guiteau at our peril"? Shouldn't he rather be canon-
ized as a saint than hung as an assassin "? Short-sighted
man ! be careful how you raise your puny hand against
the will of God."
182
FROM A MEMBER OF THE IOWA ASSEMBLY.
January 4, 1882.
Charles Guiteau :
Washington, D. C:
Dear Sir : The people of this vicinity earnestly hope
that the fact of your inspiration will be proven.
The American people are fast seeing that your act is
proving itself to be the most beneficial to the Republican
party.
FROM COLORADO— A MAN OF BRAINS.
Colorado Springs, Jan. 9, 1882.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : I was much surprised to hear that you were
placed in the prisoner's dock. I think it an act of tyr-
rany on the part of the court, as you were acting as your
own counsel.
Your trial is eagerly read, and people are looking for
your release, believing that you have the best side of the
case. No one believes you to be a crank. Your remarks
in court show that you are a man of good brains, and
you would stand a good show as candidate for senator-
ship of Colorado, or even for the Presidency of the
United States. You are spoken of a great deal here,
and many have expressed a desire to read your book on
"Truth."
FROM MAINE— ''TO THE PLUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA."
West Paris, Jan. 1, 1882.
Charles Guiteau, Esq. :
The pluckiest man in America! I would like your au-
tograph for my album with such a sentiment as you
might be pleased to write.
183
T send envelope, stamped addressed, with New Year's
greetings.
From your little friend,
Miss ,
A IS-year-old School Girl.
I would send you money for your photograph if you
had any to spare.
FROM INDIANA— CAN MEN OVERPOWER GOD?
Albany, Indiana, Jayi. 31, 1882.
Hon. Charles Guiteau,
Washington, D. C :
In response to your appeal to the ladies of the Gov-
ernment, of which you are the deliverer, I humbly beg
you to accept all I am able to offer — a letter of
sympathy and a woman's love. It was with the highest
degree of fervor I read your appeal for aid, and I sin-
cerely regret that I cannot offer even a small sum ; but
I hope and firmly believe that your call will be answered
and abundant means furnished to employ for you an
army of legal talent. I was truly surprised to learn that
a body of twelve men selected from an enlightened (?)
city should return such an unwarranted verdict. Did
they not counteract God's will ? Do they not oppose
divine rule ? Will not the meagre district court be held
accountable for countermanding the order of that Judge
whose bench Judge Cox, the jur}', and prosecution may
never see? All these things are being considered by
the thinking world. It is true that the judge on the
bench and the jury in the box, influenced by the merce-
nary efforts of the unprincipled Corkhill and the trucu-
lent Porter, hold that you are a guilty murderer, and claim
the authority to deprive you of your valuable life ; but was
it murder ? Are you to be held accountable for an act
184
planned by the Deity, who only made you a helpless in-
strument to save the nation ? Is it not a supreme honor
to be God's agent 1 Think not for a moment that this
murderous decision will be executed. Can men over-
power God? Have they not tried it and failed? Has
not God protected you in the past and given assui'ance
that he would in future ? Besides, public opinion is so
rapidly favoring you that ere the sentence can be exe-
cuted the people will demand your release, and your
honors will be unprecedented. I know what I say, and
am now only expressing what myriads of people (espe-
cially my sex) endorse.
To the future nation's pride, Charles Guiteau.
FROM DENMAKK.
CoPENHAGUE, Denmahk, the 15 J^eb., 1882.
Sir : I am a Danish student, but as I fear that yoii
don't understand the language of my country, I shall try
to express my thoughts in the English language.
In the last year every man in the world has known Sir
Charles Guiteau ; even in my little beautiful country your
name has been upon all lips ; some admire you, some fear
you.
As I am a collector of autographies, I should be very
happy if you would do me the favor to send me a few
words from your own hand.
FROM ENGLAND.
I'eb. 21, 1882.
Dear Sir : You would confer a great favor upon me if
you would only be so kind as to send me your autograph,
a writing I should value above all things. If you sliould
be kind enough to grant my request, would you only write
your name on a shp of paper and put it in the envelope
which I enclose, and send it to me.
185
Hoping that you will look with favor upon my demand,
and with kindest wishes, believe me —
FROM NEW YORK— A GREAT POLITICAL WRONG.
Brooklyn, Feb. 17, 1882.
The Honorable Charles Guiteau:
As an admirer of your character, and as a sympathizer
with you under the great injustice you have suffered, I
should esteem it a great favor to possess some slight me-
morial of you. Will you kindly favor me with a verse or
line on the enclosed, authenticated by your autograph,
which it will be my pride and pleasure to religiousl}' keep
all my life and hand to my children as a memento of a
great political wrong.
Wishing you every happiness and the support of that
God on whom you ever relied in your hour of great afflict-
ion, I am, dear sii', your sincere well wisher and admirer.
FROM WISCONSIN— I DID RIGHT TO REMOVE THE
PRESIDENT.
Eau Claire, Feb. 15, 1882.
Charles Guiteau :
Dear Sir : You do not know how many ladies there are
here who believe that you did right to remove the Presi-
dent. I am one of them, and I believe your name will
be one of the brightest in our history or in the history
of any other nation. I hope you will have a new trial
and the court in banc will reverse the decision. I hope
you will answer this in your own hand as I wish to pre-
serve your autograph as a memento of a great man.
FROM MINNESOTA— THINKS I WILL COME OUT ALL
RIGHT.
Minneapolis, Minn., 2-18, 1882.
Charles Guiteau:
Dear Sir : Allow me to express my most heartfelt
186
sympathy for you. I hope you have the confidence in
God the papers claim you have. I think you will come
out all right yet.
FKOM MAINE— SAYS I OUGHT TO BE KELEASED.
Chakles Guiteau, Esq.:
There is a strong feeling here in the Eastvi^ard among
nearly all classes in favor of your release. Wishing that
your name, which must live centuries after the names of
your accusers have been forgotten, and yourself may long
be spared the country you have really saved, I am yours
respectfully,
FROM MISSOURI.
Hon. Charles Guiteau :
Please accept the heart-felt sympathy of friends in Mis-
souri. From the first you have claimed the sympathy of
some friends at least. Our nation mourns the loss of a
good President, but our sympathy for him and his family
must not cause us to forget that there are others who
need our sympathizing prayers.
FROM MICHIGAN— "A STALWART OF THE STALWARTS."
Hon. Chas. Guiteau, Washington, D. (J.:
Those fellows are not doing right by you. You
are a stalwart of the Stalwarts, and anything I can do in
my power to help you, I will be pleased to do. Let me
know if you need any help in the way of money or politi-
cal influence.
FROM TEN SCHOOL CHILDREN— BOYS AND GIRLS— IN
MICHIGAN.
Mr. Guiteau :
We, the scholars of a school in the interior of Michi-
gan, which to express by letter our sympathy for you.
187
Your name has become familiar to every child, and when
it goes down in history you will appear in a different light
than that in which you are now represented to the pub-
lic. The minds of the people, cleared of prejudice or
passion, will then consider you in your true charac-
ter. As it is now, the press of the United States has so
involved and misconstrued your actions that your life pre-
sents one continued mesh of contradictions. Hoping
that one day or other you will stand on your merits in the
estimation of the people, we very respectfully solicit an
answer to this expression of sympathy.
FEOM ILLINOIS— THINKS I AM "A GREATER MAN THAN
GRANT, LINCOLN, OR WASHINGTON."
Chicago, Jan. 2, 1882.
Charles Guiteau, Esq.:
Honored Sir : The majority of the American people
are beginning to see your case in its true light. I would
buy your photograph in preference to Garfield's any day,
and so would a great many other people. They are be-
ginning to think of you as a greater man than Grant,
Lincoln, or Washington.
FROM A DISTINGUISHED MINISTER OF NEW YORK.
New York, Jan. 14, 1882.
Charles Guiteau,
Washington, D. C:
Dear Sir : Put your trust in God and you will come
out triumphantly in the end. I am satisfied that you are
an innocent and much abused man, but don't let your
courage fail you. Everything will be all right. Keep
up good cheer.
Yours, very truly,
Kev. ,
188
FROM ENGLAND.
England, Jan. 23, 1882.
Dear Sir: The world at large — Eugland especially —
looks first with longing eyes each morning for the latest
words which have fallen from your mouth. Your name
will be handed down to posterity. By sending me two
separate autographs of yours, which, when obtained, will
be placed amongst those of other great men, you will
confer a great favor upon yours, truly.
FROM A PHILADELPHIA LAWYER— NO MALICE IN
THIS CASE; THEREFORE NO CRIME.
January 1, 1882.
Sir : If you don't hang the jury someway it Avill be
apt to hang you. You would be in no danger if the
jurymen and the judge were all thinkers and philoso-
phers, but they are not. They are frail mortals, and will
be apt to fall in with the morbid clamor for your blood.
Corkhill is an ass and cannot appreciate the fine point on
which your case turns. Porter is a brute, and cares
for nothing but his fee. Davidge is playing soupe in the
farce of a prosecution, and like all who play subordinate
parts falls in with any nonsense the others adopt. Judge
Cox is a good kind of a creature, but with no ability or
learning. Scoville is doing as well for your defence as
a routine attorney could be expected, but he has been
stumbling along where angels fear to tread, and where
he has hit the essential matter in your case it has been
by accident rather than design.
You have made the only point and stuck to it all
through this long trial, that can be made, and that is
where there is no malice there can be no crime. Every
murder is a killing ; but every killing is not murder. If
you were sane on the 2d of July last you had no con-
ceivable motive of malice for shootincf the President.
189
If you were not saue, of course you are not responsible in
law. If you have that total depravity of heart, fatally
bent on mischief, which Blackstone describes as implied
malice in law, it is strange that it should never before
have been exhibited in your life. The facts brought out
by the prosecution about your supposed dishonest trans-
actions in business affairs do not establish the wicked-
ness of heart which produces malice in law to convict of
murder. If you have that kind of malice it would have ap-
peared long ago in murdering other people, or in attempts
to murder them. There was no actual malice, for this
must have a motive, on which mankind usually acts in
such cases. They can't call it revenge for refusing to ap-
point you to office for you had not been finally refused,
but only put off, as many are who are finally appointed.
Hayes used to reject men whom he finally appointed, and
appointed men whom he told he never could appoint.
Garfield and Blaine were counterparts of Hayes in promi-
nent traits of character. People have wondered how
Hayes ever got through his term of lying and hypocrisy
without meeting a Guiteau who had a real motive for
personal violence. Garfield, if he possessed the same
traits of character as most people who were acquainted
with him believe, had not so far developed it when you
shot him as to afford the slightest justification for your
act. Garfield had a better heart than Hayes, but he was
weak and vacillating. He had ability of high order and
much book-learning, but no balance and no common
sense. He would have proved a perfect failure as Presi-
dent, but that was no reason why he should have been
killed either by you or the doctors. And if all they claim
to have proved about you were true, Garfield would have
been as apt to appoint you as anybody. He made some
appointments no less amazing ; so that you had as much
right to anticipate honors from him, cranky arid dishon-
190
est as they claim you are, as many others who succeeded
in their importunities. I think, therefore, you tell the
truth when you say that it was not from ill will, growing
out of disappointment, that caused you to shoot the Presi-
dent.
Your lawyers call it insanity ; yon call it a " pressure "
from the Deity to do an act which the Divine wisdom
thought ought to be done for the good of the country ;
of which of course you must be the judge in the first in-
stance, as no other man could be a judge for you ; I
mean as to the " inspiration." When Moses had an in-
spiration to retire to the smoking mountain of Sinai to
write the tables for the Israelites, he didn't receive an in-
timation of it from anybody else, and he didn't have to
" prove " it to the satisfaction of any captive Jews. He
felt it and acted upon it, and the result showed he was
not an imposter. The same may be said of the Apostles.
Paul's own statement has always been taken, and the
Scripture is based on it so far as he is concerned, w-hen
he told how he became converted and what ■■' pressure "
was brought on him to change his course of life, and how
God inspired his writing and preaching. If there is a
God and our religion is not a lie, as the crank lugersoll
declares, that same Deity which knows no variableness or
shadow of turning can select His instruments, now as
well as then.
But it makes no practical difference whether you are right
or Scoville is right in the pith of the matter. It is not
murder in any case. If it was a real inspiration, there
was no more reason to call you insane than to call Moses,
the Prophets, and the Apostles insane. But as we must
have civil administration as well as divine in human gov-
ernments, all sons of men must in the first instance be held
responsible for their acts which are forbidden by law and
let the Almighty take care of the rest. When God moves
191
in one direction and man in another, conflicts become
mysterious and irreconcilable to our narrow views. In-
dividuals must perish in this seeming- conflict, but God's
wisdom will be vindicated at last. And as a matter of
fact we find there never lias been any punishment in such
cases as yours. Christ had to be crucified according to
the divine economy, and the irresponsible mob of Jews
who crucified him were technically guilty of homicide
under the law of the land, but as a fact they were never
punished. When Stephen was stoned to death it was
murder, but not only did the murderer escape, but
Stephen himself asked that he be forgiven, as Christ had
said of his murderers, " Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Supposing you to have been
sane, your act will stand out in history in the same cate-
gory, and roll down the ages for a divine purpose. If it
was an "insane delusion '' of your own, without an inspira-
tion, of course you cannot be convicted. Still less, if you,
as a matter of fact, have never been a sane man. But if
your act has more of the ingredients of murder, as you
can demonstrate if j'ou understood your own case, it
makes no difference, as I have said, what defence is put in.
Garfield fell a victim to influences and circumstances
which he helped to bring about. The moral world is
governed by laws as certain as those of the physical. You
might as well say God is guilty of murder when His light-
ening strikes and kills as to say you are guilty, when
you conducted against the person of the President the
fatal surcharge of the political atmosphere on the 2d of
July. Brutus committed technical homicide when he
stabbed Caesar in the senate-house instead of a railroad
depot, but his act was never regarded as criminal, but
historical, for which we of America applaud him. He
didn't love Csesar less, but Rome jnore. Charlotte Cor-
day committed assassination when she slew Murat in a
192
bath-tub, but she was not punished because she executed,
if not the will of God, the known will of the people of
France. Killing a king or soverign is treason, not mur-
der, in the old world ; and the truth is tve have no Icno
on the subject. If they convict you for killing the man
Garfield they will do so without showing the least mo-
tive for the act, and by upsetting the whole theory and
precedents of the common law.
FROM IOWA— AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE.
I am in receipt of this letter dated March 10, 1882 :
Mr. GuiTEAu:
Dear Friend : I have read all about you in the papers.
We all sympathize with you out in this country, and hope
you will get out all right. I don't believe you will be
hung. Now, will you please send me your photograph ?
I would like to have it very much. Enclosed you will
find mine. I am 19 years old, and very good looking.
I am rich and want a husband. If you think I would
suit you, please let me know.
THRICE SAVED FROM DEATH.
I hereby record that I adore the Almighty Father and
the Saviour for the kind providence that has been with
me all my life, and especially since I have been in jail.
Thrice I have been shot at and missed since July 2. The
most providential escape from death was by Mason's
bullet. It passed within an inch of my head and left my
pi'ofile on the lead. Jones' bullet grazed my arm, but it
did me no harm. A guard in the jail placed his pistol
within six inches of my head in August, and I clinched
him and held him until relieved by friendly guards. In
193
the scuffle he fired his pistol at my head, but it missed
me. I record this experience as acts of the Deity in my
favor.
MASON.
From the Washington Post March 14, 1882 :
From being-over loquacious Guiteau has gravitated to
the other extreme, and now opens his mouth only at rare
and stated intervals. He heard of Mason's sentence late
Sunday afternoon. Strange to say he made no com-
ment upon it, not even showing by any act that he felt
the slightest interest in Mason or any of his kin. He
has since steadily refused to talk about the sentence, con-
tenting himself with remarking, when pressed for his
opinion : " O, well, I suppose if he intended to kill me, the
sentence was all right " — a certainly intensely non-com-
mital phrase. It is the opinion of those who have most
closely observed him that he really casts no thoughts
upon Mason, regai-ding him only as a wicked reed which
was broken by divine power.
A New York paper, in discussing Mason's sentence,
uses these words, which I endorse :
This artilleryman struck a blow at the reputation of
the regular troops for obedience to orders under all cir-
cumstances. To have punished him more lightly would
have helped to spread the conviction that the troops
could not be relied upon to perform disagreeable duty in
moments of great public excitement, and it would have
half condoned one of the greatest offences which a sol-
dier can be guilty of in time of peace.
My Life in Jail.
[From the Baltimore Sun, March 6.]
■ Through the courtesy of Gen. Crockei", warden of the
194
jail, a representative of The Sun was admitted to
Guiteau's cell on Saturday. The prisoner has improved
in appearance remarkably since his trial. His complex-
ion is clear, and shows the glow of health and good liv-
ing without excess. While upon close view there is a
peculiarity in the expression of Guiteau's eye, it is not
suflSciently noticeable to attract attention under ordinary
circumstances. He wears a new suit of dark clothing,
fresh linen, and a wide-brimmed soft hat, keeping the
latter constantly upon his head, even in the presence of
lady visitors. Two cells are at his disposal, one of which
he uses as an office and the other as a sleeping apart-
ment. The office is furnished with several chairs, a desk,
and writing materials. The prisoner said he was well
treated by everybody. He had numerous visitors, from
whom he realized $25 to $30 per day by the sale of au-
tographs and photographs. He exhibited four pictures
in different positions, recently taken, saying he preferred
those in which the face was turned to the side. These
give the countenance an expression of severity' not nat-
ural to it. The proceeds of this traffic afford him the
means of supplying various comforts and the daily new-
papers. Judging by the testimony on his trial of the
shifts he has employed to get along in the past, he is in
easier circumstances now than he has been for a long
while. He reads pretty much all that is published about
himself, and is very fond of fruit and buys a great deal
of it. He disapproves of Mrs. Scoville's letters to Mrs.
Garfield and President Arthur, and has notified her not
to write any more letters in his behalf. In reference to
his prospects, Guiteau said confidently : " We expect relief
from the court in banc." He hoped Mr. Conkling would
accept the seat on the Supreme Bench for the good of
the country. Guiteau is anxious to have a new book
published, which will contain a revision of his work on
195
the Bible, a sketch of his life, and an abstract of the
trial. He is desirous that a Baltimore house should pub-
lish it, and says he is losing $50 a day while it remains
unprinted. At parting the prisoner said : " I will give
you a sentiment," and he wrote on a slip of paper the
words, " The Republican Party — wrecked by Garfield ;
saved by Guiteau's inspiration and Arthur's statesman-
ship. Tell the readers of 7'Ae Smi that I am well and
happy, and have no apprehensions of any other condition
either here or hereafter." His manner is entirely free
from anything that would indicate that he did not feel
as he spoke. He replies to all interrogations with
promptness and decision, and speaks freely upon any
topic introduced. When visitors appear at the door of
his cell he invites them to entei', encouraging the timid
with the assurance that he will not hurt them. He dis-
plays the air of a busy man of affairs, much in earnest
and entirely sane, entertaining visitors as would become
a man in the position of a host perfectly at ease.
PEKSONAL.
As I have been terribly vilified by certain disreputable
newspapers, and have had diabolical-looking pictui'es
printed in some illustrated newspapers, pretending to
represent my profile, I herewith give my personal appear-
ance : Age, forty — am often taken for thirty ; height, 5 feet
5f inches ; weight, 140 pounds. Body compact and well
built. Head, round and plump. Brains, let the public
pass on that. Complexion, clear, light, and bright. Eyes,
the same. Hair, brown ; worn short. Face, clean, with
a slight moustache. Manners, those of a high-toned
Christian gentleman. Habits, I do not dissipate in any
way. Health, excellent.
196
My time is pleasantly spent in reading, writing, and
entertaining company. I have no anxiety about myself
for this world or the next. The Lord always takes care
of His man.
To Newspapers.
Certain newspaper cranks delight in the use of the
words " Guiteau the Assassin." The word assassin is
getting to be a high-toned word. Applied to me it
sounds as well as the word " patriot."
Guiteau, the Patriot.
Guiteau, the Assassin.
Cranks can take their choice.
The most venomous men on the American press on
this Guiteau-Garfield business are "Josef" Medill, of the
Chicago Tribune ; W. Reid, of the N'etc York Tribune ;
M. Halstead, of the Cincinnati Commercial ; and Cur-
tis, the man-milliner of Harper s Weekly. These fellows
are so badly cranked they will be in a lunatic asylum if
they do not have a care. They should remember that
Grant, Conkling, and Arthur elected Garfield and not
they. I hereby invite them to join the Gi'ant-Guiteau-
Arthur Combination and behave themselves. I hereby
notify them to hold their venom. Let them stop cursing
God's man. If they cannot, let them follow the advice
of Job's wife : " Curse God and die." Then the Al-
mighty will get even with them for their diabolical spirit
in this matter. The poodle dogs, of " the minor press,"
as Horace Greeley called the two-cent dailies, are hardly
worth my notice. I pass them as a Fifth avenue gentle-
man would the bark of a cur.
197
This Book is Copyrighted.
By the statement in the preface, " that editors, not
newspaper devils, may review this book," I mean
that they will only be allowed to review it generally. I
do not mean to destroy the copyright. No one has a
right to copy any part of this book without special per-
mission from me, as it is copyrighted. The pubHc can
buy it if they want it.
THE PRESIDENCY— J. A. G., C. A. A., AND C. J. G.
Aj^ropos to the Presidency, it has been discovered
that the initials of Garfield, J. A. G., and Arthur, C. A.
A., and Guiteau, C J. G , intermingle mysteriously.
Eliminate the letters common to each, i. e., the A's, and it
leaves C. J. G. To lovers of the mysterious this cer-
tainly is striking. These initials may, and probably do,
indicate three Presidents, i. e., three acts of the Deity.
MY SENTIMENT.
I close this book with this sentiment : The Republican
party, wrecked by Garfield, saved by Guiteau's inspira-
tion and Arthur's statesmanship.
The political, financial, and social tranquillity this
nation to-day enjoys, all come from my inspiration in re-
moving Garfield. Where would the Republican Party
have been to-day, and what the condition of this nation
had Garfield continued to run politics as he was doing
last June ? Let the cranks tell. They had better stop
cursing God's man and commence to praise him.
I see the Lord is after Dr. Gray. He will probably
1
198
send for the rest of my enemies soon. Beware, ye min-
ions of the law,^ how ye treat me, lest ye kindle the
wrath of the Deity and perish from the way ! " Be in-
structed," says the' Psalmist, "ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the
way. "
/O^/^ f^a^ -'si^S^^t/g,^^
I I HELL ( ^s^-^
"iMway Tvith Corkhill andtheEicperts.'''
4
APPENDIX.
GARFIELD.
I INSERT the following from the Washington Post
March 10, 1882. It is high time this Garfield
gush was over. It is sickening to see what fools there
are in this world. How some fools will curse a man liv-
ing and deifj' him dead. If the men that were cursing
Garfield last spring had any honor they would think of
him now, as they did when he was wrecking the Eepubli-
can party and imperiling the life of the Republic. Let
Garfield go into history with his true record, to wit:
the President who wrecked the Republican party and
imperiled the happiness and life of this Nation :
To THE Editor of the Post : I read with great inter-
est the Garfield-Chase letter in your paper to-day. I will
take an oath it is genuine, for I saw the original in Mr.
Chase's house in 1867, when he resided on the corner of
Sixth and E streets. What became of it, and how it
turns up now, I do not know. To one who knew Gar-
field well this letter is no surprise. He was a treacher-
ous, a cowardly, a hypocritical man, selfish to the extreme,
and not caring what happened, so it did not happen to
himself. Gen. Rosecrans was and is worth to this coun-
try a thousand Garfields. When the fighting that Gar-
field was craving for came on he took good care to keep
out of danger. It is high time, for the sake of our na-
tional common sense, the truth of history and justice
alike to the living and the dead, that all this gush over
202
Garfield should end. He was nothing but a professional
office-seeker and politician ! No one can point to an
original thought he ever uttered. He betrayed John
Sherman at Chicago as treacherouslj'^ as Brutus did Csesar
or Judas did Christ. No one wants to do injustice to a
dead man, but they are worth no more than living ones,
and living or dead the reputation of a brave, patriotic,
and useful soldier like Gen. Rosecrans should not suffer
in the eyes or thoughts of our people by the words of
such a man as Garfield.
LETTERS FROM THE DAUGHTER OF A NEW YORK
LAWYER.
I am in receipt of the following letters which I print
as a part of my history. The author is the daughter of
a New York lawj-er. I withhold her name, as I print
them withoat her knowledge :
New York, Bee. 26, 1881.
Charles Guiteau, Esq.:
Dear Sir : The expressed wish of a stranger that you
have spent a "Merry," or a "Happy Christmas," would
perhaps sound like a sarcasm. At the same time there
are circumstances under which —
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage ;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage" —
and I most sincerely hope you have been able to look
upon your surroundings with complacency on this
Christian anniversary.
In no heart did the assassination of President Garfield
arouse more intense horror than in mine ; yet there are
few, if any, who can, to-day, sympathize with j^ou more
profoundly than I do.
203
This sympathy has its origin in a realization and ap-
preciation, impossible to most persons, of the mysterious,
subtle, and irresistible power of the delusion — as I must
interpret your claim to " inspiration '' — by which you
were impelled, as I verily believe, to the dreadful deed,
that will send the name of Garfield down to posterity as
a martyr, and the name of Guiteau as a murderer, when,
in fact and in truth, the one as little deserves the glory
as the other the ignominy.
A Case of Insane Delusion.
I am only a woman, a Miss, and not very ancient ; but
I am certain there is no delusion so insidous, inciting,
and propulsive as one arising from supposed inspiration.
I speak from knowledge from having been the confidante,
the close observer, and the custodian of a young lady
whose " inspiration '' nearly culminated in a sacrifice
more unnatural and abhoi'ent than your attack upon the
President.
This lady was, and is still, my dearest friend, an inti-
mate from early childhood. Her father was a worthy and
distinguished clergyman ; her mother a devotee. She
has three brothers and one sister, all of whom, excepting
the younger brother, were noted, from their earliest
adolescence for their exemplary conduct and Christian
character. But no imputation or suspicion of fanaticism
or bigotry was ever heard against any of the family, who,
with their fervent piety, believed it to be the privilege and
the duty of mankind to indulge their faculties and in-
clinations in every way, consistently with morality and
religion, calculated to produce the greatest amount of
enjoyment and happiness. In the lives of none were the
principles and teachings of this creed more conspicuous
than in the every-day conduct of my friend.
Her younger brother, as intimated a moment ago, is
204
excepted from this complimentary description. Before
he attained bis majority be conceived a repugnance to
Cbristian restraint and religious observances. He began
by absenting himself from family prayers, smirking over
grace at meals, inventing frivolous and false excuses for
remaining from church, and in meeting the remonstrances
and loving appeals of his. parents with anger and de-
fiance. Next, he fell into keeping late hours, and, as a
little later discovered, bad company. In short, he went
on de mal en pis until a chronique scanclaletise of his ex-
cesses and shortcoming? would have included nearly all
the sins and vices known to the decalogue.
From the first the faults of her brother lay heavily at
the heart of my friend. To her he was more than a
brother; he seemed to her the better part of herself, for
the two were twins. She loved, most fondly, the other
members of the family, but this scapegrace she fairly
idolized. It is but justice to him to say that he likewise
adored her. Of this she was fully conscious, and it al-
most broke her heart because she could not reclaim him
from his evil ways. His delinquencies and her solicitude
for his future finally absorbed all her interest and
thoughts. In her meditations and reflections, the mun-
dane welfare of her brother found no place. His spirit-
ual welfare and the danger to which he was exposing his
soul, were her sole concern. In a word, she so pestered,
pondered, prayed, and pined over his presumed peril that
she became a monomaniac on that snbject.
The condition of her intellect was discovered in this
way : Her delusion, like that under which you labored,
being a supposed inspiration from on high. One day
she called at my home, and, after a brief chat in the par-
lor, requested to be conducted to my private room, say-
ing she had an important communication to make in
strict confidence. She appeared to be in the frame of
205
mind that for some months had been usual with her, and,
although I thought the request an odd one, as there was
no one besides ourselves in the parlors, I readily acceded
to it. As soon as she entered my room she went to the
book-case, and, taking down the Bible, said, as she placed
it on a table : " Put your hand on the Word of God
and swear that you will never, without my permission,
divulge the secret I am about to confide to you." There
was in her face and carriage at this time an appearance
of hopefulness and elation that I had not seen about her
for several months ; but this only served to make her de-
mand the more startling. I told her I could not swear,
as the Bible bids us " swear not at all." After consider-
able argument and persuasion she broke into a hearty
laugh, and exclaimed : " How absurd in me to ask you to
swear — just as if I didn't know you would never betray
a secret. Well, it is this," she went on after a moment's
re'flectiou, "I can save W , my brother. God has
promised to take him to His bosom and to pardon all his
sins, and has commanded me to release him from the
flesh, by the least painful means, as soon as possible."
I was astounded ; almost stupefied. I knew that it
was not possible for my friend to jest on so serious and
sacred a subject, and besides I could see, under her san-
guine, joyous air, that she was in dead earnest. Before
I could recover sufficiently to express my astonishment
she went on : "I must do it before Ash Wednesday, or
he will worship Comus all through Lent, and then God
might withdraw His promise to me. You see, I have only
a fortnight to save him in, and I have no one but you to
help me, you know."
" Help you ! Great heaven, what are you talking
about ! " I fairly shrieked. In the most easy, business-
like way she proceeded : " Well, you see God, as well as
my own heart, demands that I shall deliver him only
206
through fin euthanasia, and I don't know which of the
many ways to choose. In a book of trials that we were
once reading in your pa's study, there was something
mentioned that released the soul from the body without
any pain whatever ; what was that ? "
She alluded to a volume of Causes Celebres belonging
to my father, a lawyer by profession, but for some years
retired from practice. Then she told me of the various
implements and instruments of death that had occurred
to her as a means of " translating " (using the word in
the sense you employ " removing ") her brother from the
the temptations of Satan to the abode of bliss. Fearing
she might act on her " inspiration " before proper steps
could be devised to restrain her, or cure her malady, I
pretended to humor her determination and scheme, and
told her that I believed morphia would be the most mer-
ciful thing to use, as it would confer on her brother
pleasant dreams, from which he would awake in the
pleasanter realities of heaven.
She said she had thought of this, but that on applying
to several druggists they had refused to sell her any.
I told her that on the following day I should go to New
York, and that I would purchase a whole bottle full at a
wholesale store. This pleased her, and she promised to
wait.
When she was ready to return home I accompanied
her, and made known her monomania to her parents.
Several physicians were immediately consulted, and at
the same time the author or cause of her derangement
was informed of the mischief his deliqueucies had wrought.
His remorse was excruciating and terrible. After threat-
ening to take his own life, in order that his sister's de-
lusion might be brought to an end, he was asked, and
eagerly consented, to co operate with the physicians in a
scheme which they believed would result in her cure.
207
This scheme, briefly stated, was as follows : I was to
procure, or rather there was to be procured for me, a
bottle of sulphate of morphia, aud to assist her in pre-
paring a sufficient quantity to produce the effect desired.
After measuring and spreading out a sufficient quantity,
I was, at a proper moment, to exchange it, without her
knowledge, for an equal quantity of quinine.
Next, her brother, who frequently suffered from ma-
laria, was to feign illness, and was to have quinine pre-
scribed for him. Then I was to suggest, in case she
failed to perceive it, that this would be an excellent op-
portunity for the execution of her project, since she
could attend her brother and substitute morphine for
quinine, and, as both were bitter, he would swallow the
former without the least suspicion.
Further, the brother was to pretend, after taking the
supposed narcotic, to fall into a profound slumber, and
was to continue to appear in this state for at least two
days. On " reviving " he was to pretend to have been
in a trance — to have seen the angel of death, a pano-
rama of his own sins, and also a glimpse of heaven and
hell. He was to supplement this with the announce-
ment that, having seen the folly and wickedness of the
erratic life he had been leading,. he was determined to
reform aud devote the remainder of his days to honor-
able, noble, and Christian pursuits.
The whole programme, of which T have given you only
a vague epitome, was successfully carried out. The
" trance " continued upwards of three days, aud though
my friend repeatedly saw her brother, and believed him
on the verge of dissolution, she never once betrayed the
least compunction. When her brother " awoke " and
described his " visions," which were as picturesque as
Dante's Visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, and
expressed contrition — as pathetic as the confessions of
208
Rousseau — at the sinful and scandalous course he had
followed, the sister listened with a wistful, disappointed
air, and evidently regretted that her purpose had mis-
carried. But when, later on, he proceeded to explain
that he had also experienced a change of heart, and that
thenceforth he was determined to lead a Christian and
useful life, she threw herself on his neck and, weeping
for joy, frantically thanked God that her brother's life
as well as his soul had been spared. Her "inspiration,"
her delusion, ended with the cause that produced it.
She frankly stated to her family her intention, and at-
tempt to remove her brother from vices and sins that
threatened to destroy his soul. At the same time she
was told how her scheme had been circumvented.
My Case.
I have given this narrative, Mr. Guiteau, because the
case of my friend bears, in numerous ways, a striking re-
semblance to your own, and because I have indulged the
hope that it may be some gratification to you to learn
that, notwithstanding the clamor of the newspapers,
there are people in the world who, whilst they regret Mr.
Garfield's violent taking off, can understand the character
of the impulse that forced you to the commission of
the deed, and see in you something better than a
murderer. There are a greater number of people of this
kind than the men, who, for lucre and fame are clamor-
ing for your blood, appear to think. As a matter of in-
terest, my friend, who under a delusion similar to that
affecting you, came so near to committing fratricide, and
myself, resolved a few days ago to call on one hundred
lady friends and get their opinions as to whether you
were at the time of shooting Garfield responsible to God
or man for the act. Our calls were made promiscu-
209
ously on the wives and daughters of lawyers, doctors,
clergyinen, bankers, merchants, and other respectable
laymen, and out of the one hundred opinions — only one
lady in each family being called on to- express one — there
were but seven who believed you to have been actuated
by a malignant and murderous spirit, and one of these
was an intimate friend of Mr. Garfield, and another was
too ignorant to know the difference between a sane and
insane delusion.
From this test it is obvious that if you were to be tried
before a jury composed of ladies you would be promptly
acquitted ; and yet, previous to the commencement of
your trial, my sex in this section were unanimously con-
vinced of your guilt, and would have voted, if called upon,
that the extreme penalty should be inflicted upon you.
I can also assure you that since your trial began there
has also been a great change among members of your
own sex in their views as to your moral and legal account-
ability ; but the change is not so great by perhaps twenty-
five per cent, as among mothers and daughters.
Ingratitude of the Stalwarts.
But there is one point in which you have concern, in
which a vast majority of my male acquaintances agree
with the unanimous opinion of women, and that is, that
the treatment, the neglect, you have suffered at the hands
of President Arthur and other Stalwart Eepublicans, who
owe their elevation to you, is simply infamous ! There is
a proverb that Republics are ungrateful, but henceforth
it should be specially applied to Republicans of the
Arthur-Conkling-Cameron stripe.
" If there be a crime
Of deeper die than all the guilty train
Of human vices, 'tis ingratitude " —
210
the poet has well iiud truly said, so truly that a later
poet has more briefly put it —
" Ingratitude is treason to mankind."
The political history of the world may be searched in
vain for an example or iu stance of ingratitude so base,
black, and brutal as that of the men you have elevated to
power and fortune. Whether you were sane or insane
when you fired the fatal shot they were bound to gain,
and you to lose; and, sane or insane, you have claim
upon their moral and material support. The pretended
sympathy, the crocodile tears, some of them shed over
Garfield, need not prevent their seeing even-handed jus-
tice done by you. If they lack the courage to aid you
openly they should have done it stealthily. They should,
at the very least, have provided you with counsel, whose
ability and experience would enable them to cope with
prosecuting array. A legal gentleman told me a 'few
evenings ago that he knew, as a fact, that a single intima-
tion by word or look from President Arthur would (some
time ago when the trial was being talked over by a num-
ber of friends in New York) have secured you the services
of John Graham, the greatest lawyer in criminal
practice living at this time. He was one of the leading
counsel for Sickles, was couusel-in-chief for McFarland,
and for scores of other defendants in criminal cases, and
his record of successes eclipse that of any other Ameri-
can advocate. The gentleman I mentioned and my father,
also a lawyer, are of opinion that Mr. Graham would
have been able to acquit you, and (for him) quite easily.
I am sure you will, in consideration of my sex, and my
solicitude for your future, and in consideration of my
assurance that there are thousands upon thousands who
sympathize and pray for your speedy deliverance, favor
me with at least so much of an acknowledgment of the re-
I
211
ceipt of this as will ensure me your autograph. If you
will enclose half a dozen more, that I may distribute
among your most ardent friends, they will be immensely
esteemed. Aud now, an revoir. May God protect and
deliver you, is the sincare prayer of your stranger friend.
Sunday Evening, Jan. 1, 1882.
Mr. GuiTEAu :
From the bottom of my heart I am wishing you " A
Happy New Year.'' Most sincerely do I wish that you
could be one of the many who will call upon me to-mor-
row. I mean that I wish you were free to call on every-
body, wherever inclination might lead you. Doubtless
you will receive, youself, calls enough ; for there is not,
I presume, living a human being, not excepting Victoria
the virtuous, or Alexander the autocrat, whom the peo-
ple of every class would take so much interest in seeing,
as yourself; but many of these, I fear, will have as little
sympathy with you as the masses are said to have had
with the great king remover, or "king maker," of four
centuries ago, the Earl of Warwick, Still he, like your-
self, had his friends, and posterity appreciates, if it does
not applaud his conduct.
I penned my letter of Christmas without consulting
anybody, but when I showed it to my mother she objected
to my sending it without leave of my father, who was
absent on business in St. Louis, and was not expected
home until the end of the year. He returned yesterday,
and although he did not quite approve of my writing
you, he at length, to get rid of my importunity I sup-
pose, gave me permission to send my letter.
He also gave me permission to report some things he
said last evening, in conversation with our family physic-
ian, who had made a neighborly call. He says he thinks
your counsel could have educed, on the cross-examina-
212
tion of the Government experts, certain admissions
whicb would go far towards sustaining the theory of the
defence. He thinks these witnesses, if still at the capi-
tal, should be called back to the stand for further cross-
examination, which, he says the court would permit as
matter of favor, if not of right. Should it refuse, be
says, he would, if he were counsel, call these witnesses
to the stand at the risk of making them witnesses as to
the matters to be inquired into for the defence.
Views of a Lawyer.
Father claims, if I understand his views, which I can-
not persuade him to indite, or even dictate to me, though
he has twice orally repeated them, that the pi'osecution
has through a myopisra that nothing but passion could
produce, stultified itself in a vital matter. He declares
that in their obvious endeavor to give you, Mr. Guiteau,
a character, and fasten on you a disposition and propen-
sities in keeping with, and calculated to suggest and
prompt the motive and considerations that they claim in-
duced you to shoot Garfield have adduced a mass of evi-
dence intended to present you to the jury as the incarna-
tion of vanity, egotism, and ambition ; and that if half
this evidence is true it is overwhelmingly conclusive, un-
fortunate for the prosecution, that you have been a mono-
maniac, or more still, a duomaniac for years. This evi-
dence of the prosecution, he claims, is more than suf-
ficient to prove that you have, for a long time, been the
victim of two distinct species or varieties of monomania.
One he calls the monomania of pride and ambition ; that
is, a malady born of the exaltation of self-esteem and
egotism ; the other a monomania of vanity ; an unnatu-
ral, irrational cravingfor applause, notoriety or grandeur.
He mentioned other names (of techincal character, I sup-
pose) for these monomanics, but for my life, though
213
I tried to fix them in my mind, I cannot recall them, nor
can it matter.
Perhaps I ought to explain that pa did not mean to
say, and that T do not believe, you have the mental de-
rangements mentioned, but only that, assuming the
State's evidence to be true, you must have been, as he ex-
presses" it, no7i cotnjyos mentis for at least a decade ; and
he thinks the prosecutors deserve for their malignant, un-
conscionable blind rage, to be hoist with, their own petard,
or floored with their own heathenish bommerang.
These monomanies, pa says, are recognized by the
best authorities as well defined species of insanity, and
that, considering the political situation at the time, the
tendencies of these maladies, or either of them, might
well have precipitated their victim on the President,
under the delusion that he would win the world's ap-
plause, or realize his ambitious aspirations.
Although pa believes you might — thanks to the testi-
mony for the people — have been successfully defended
under these varieties of insanity, it is not with this view
that he suggests that your counsel should further cross-
examine the experts.
He would merely have them admit before the jury that
the best authorities on insanity recognize a monomania
of vanity and .self-esteem ; and, as a distinct variety of
insanity, a monomania of pride and ambition. Then he
would have them asked whether a person afflicted with
both, or either, of these maladies would not be more
susceptible to an insane delusion — a supposed divine in-
spiration — than orne who had betrayed no symptoms of
insanity, and who was perfectly sane until the manifes-
tation of such delusion.
Next, whether an inspiration or delusion, such as it is
claimed impelled you to the shooting, would not be
more likely to enter into and control a victim to the mo-
214
nomanies specified tban to take possession of a person
hitherto in good mental health.
I cannot get the questions in the phraseology pa used,
but I think I caught his ideas, and your lawyers can do
the rest if the suggestions are worth anything.
He also said he would call ; no, I am not sure, but that he
said he would venture to ask the Government experts still
further whether one afflicted with the monomanies indi-
cated would not (your circumstances and surroundings
all considered) be more likely to become a victim of the
delusion that led to the shooting, than would one af-
fected by the monomania of fear, of kleptomania, or
dipsomania.
And now, Mr. Guiteau, I am done. I have written
you, not that I sympathize in your deed, but because
I believe you, honestly believed, that you were doing
God's bidding, and if the worst must come that you will
feel and be able to say with Charlotte Corday when she
killed Murat, '■'■C'estle crime qui fait la honte, et nonpas
Vechafaxid.'' But if my prayers will avail, a better fate
is in reserve for you. God's will will be done.
(Postscript.)
Mr. Guiteau :
I was pleased to read in the Herald thi& morning that
on Sunday and yesterday you received quite an ovation
from the people of Washington. If you did not have "A
Happy New Year," you certainly could have had little time
to brood over your unfortunate situation, or to feel
miserable.
But I was pained to see in the same paper a report that
you are to be deprived of the few comforts you have been,
of late, permitted to enjoy ; namely, your mail and palatable
meals. I can hardly believe this report. To deprive you
of the first would be an outrage upon your personal rights ;
215
to deny you the second would be a piece of cruelty that
would bring discredit and reproach on all responsible for
the deprivation or neglect.
Knowing how busy you must be at the present time,
I enclose an envelope already superscribed and stamped,
in which you can, with little loss of time, enclose your
autograph, or still better, such reply as your feelings may
dictate.
Father goes to Washington Friday evening. I have
extorted a promise that I may accompany him and that
he will take me to court; but he refuses to take
me to the jail. Unless I can coax him before his
departure to do this, or let some friends take me
to the jail, I shall pout and be disagreeable and stay at
home. I would, I know, be very glad to go to the capi-
tal with him for a few weeks' visit, as we have many friends
there ; but I will not go unless I can be free to have
my own way. Whether I go or stay, I shall hope to
receive, at least, a word, though I hope for several,
at your first convenience.
And now once more, au revolre — for I hate the words
" farewell," and " adieu," and " good bye," as I do death.
New York, Wednesday Evening, Jan. 11, 1882.
Charles Guiteau, Esq.:
My Dear Sir : Your letter of the 7th inst. came
promptly to hand. It is needless to assure you, after what
I said in my former letter, that it is highly appreciated.
It will be esteemed and preserved as long as I live, and
I doubt not, for many generations when we are no more,
as a most interesting and solemn souvenir of the most
important drama in the history of the Republic, and of
yourself, the principal actor, and now central figure. I do
not prize it, as a gentleman acquaintance was rude enough
last evening to intimate, as a memento of the political an-
216
nihilation of President Garfield, for although I had freely
indulged my right, (as most young ladies in my social
circle do, in accordance with their predelictious or pre-
judices) to criticise and condemn some of the acts of Mr.
Garfield, I can asseverate, from the inmost recess of my
heart, that no one unconnected with him by consangui-
neal or hymenal ties, could have felt more sincere and
profound sorrow than I did at his death. I prize it be-
cause I believe, or rather know, that you will either be
acquitted and come forth a free man, whose claims upon
his party and country will then be recognized, or you
will fall a victim to an unjust administration of the law,
and take an honored place in glory beside St. Paul and a
host of lesser martyrs ; and in either case I shall prize
your letter as the most precious souvenir that I could
possess.
The four autographs you were kind enough to enclose
were all begged away by lady friends, who, like myself,
sympathize deeply with you. Although I had intended
to preserve one for my album I could not, in face of my
good fortune in having your letter,' be so selfish.
I had hoped to see you, and I still indulge the hope of
meeting you at no remote day, but pa, who, dear soul, is
the most indulgent of parents, felt constrained to refuse
my petition to visit you at the jail. He desired that I
should accompany him to Washington where he now is,
and promised to take me to the court that I might see
you, but I declined the offer. I wished to speak to you as
well as to see you. Morever, I knew it would cost me more
patience and pain than I could well endure to sit quietly
and hear those cold-blooded men clamor for your immo-
lation. Pa would sacrifice much of his own feelings, not
involving what he regards the proprieties of society,
to gratify me ; but we are so well known in Washington
that he thinks it would be next to impossible for me to
217
call, even with himself and friends, at the jail to see you,
without provoking unpleasant criticism and notoriety ;
especially as he, although not a politician, strictly speak-
ing, is a very pronounced Stalwart. But I know from his
remarks that should you, unfortunately be convicted, he
will see less objection to my visiting you with friends be-
fore you should be granted a new trial. In such case,
he stijs, there would be far less danger of our motives
being misunderstood and misrepresented ; that the act,
which might now be interpreted as an approval of Gar-
field's taking-oflf, would then be ascribed to Christian
charity. Pa, I have no doubt is right, but, at the same-
time, I think with the Sartor Resartus that our true in-
wardness and best motives, as well as the worst, are hid-
den too much "in clothes."
Then should you (which God forbid) be condemned I
shall see you ; and if you are vindicated and set free I
hope to see you, though in the latter contingency the
realization of my wish will depend upon yourself. You
request me to send you my photograph, and I shall do
so, although T have with great difficulty succeeded in ob-
taining mamma's consent. Pa had left for Washington be-
fore joiw letter arrived, and ma has feared that some
of the keepers might find the photograph and give it to
some of the enterprising artists of the illustrated papers,
who would give it publicity. But I have at length suc-
ceeded in convincing her that you will not, especially
after having your attention drawn to the danger, allow
such an accident to happen. I will endeavor to send one
with this epistle, but if I do not I will send one in a day
or two. On looking around the house I have not able to
find one of dimensions that will accomodate themselves
to a letter ; that is, none recently taken, though I have
several of larger size, 8 by 12 inches, but I think I may
get one from some of my friends, near by, who have com-
218
plimented me by pilfering mj image — not for its beauty
— but for — I don't know what. (After that punctation I
ought to have added, "I'll be dashed ( — ) if I do.'') But
it makes me so fidgety when I think of your situation, of
which I had a partial illustration in the mania of my
friend, that I can scarcely write intelligibly much less look
to the rules of prosedy. But, as I was saying, if I do
not, after closing my letter, find a photo among my near
friends, I will go over to the city and get some taken,
and send one to-morrow or the next day.
You will not imagine, I am sure, that I could miscon-
ceive your wish and request to have my picture. I can
easily understand that in your confined and isolated sit-
uation you would, or might, derive some little solace and
comfort from glancing over the miniatures — since you
cannot have present the originals — of those who sympa-
thize and are praj'ing for your deliverance.
I suppose it would be useless to ask for a photograph
of yourself, as you are situated. I have all the illustrated
papers that gave a picture of you, and had in my mind's
eye formed a satisfactory likeness of you ; but father, who
saw you in court, in a letter received yesterday, declares
that none of these pictures closely resemble you, and
that most of them are caricatures. He adds, however,
that the tonsorial operation performed on you previous
to the taking a cast of your head must have made some
change in your facial appearance, yet that he is assured
by Judge Porter that the pictures never gave a striking
or faithful representation of you.
You must have seen pa, as his conversation with Porter
was in court. They are old friends, and pa says he is
confident that if Porter — though he has many superiors —
had defended, he could have brought you out in triumph.
His forte is well understood to lie rather in defending
than in prosecuting.
I
I
219
I am glad you are to make the closing speech in your
defence, and I hope and believe the eifort will be worthy
of the occasion and of yourself. As Porter is to follow
you in closing for the prosecution, I pray that, apart from
the merits, you will do and say everything possible to
neutralize, in advance, the effect of his euphonistic decla-
mationrand rhetoric. If you will bear in mind that I am
a lawyer's daughter, and one who has always, for years
at least, taken a great interest in legal controversies and
forensic warfare, (often wishing myself a man,) you will,
I am certain, take in good part the suggestions I may
make for combatting Porter and Davidge.
Porter and Davidge.
I do not think you could give Porter a harder blow
than by likening him and his grandiloquent periods to
Sergeant Buzfuz, in the great case of Mrs. Bardell versus
Pickwick. You doubtless remember how that great disci-
ple of Themis undertook to prove a breach of promise
from Pickwick's notes, the first of which, pertaining to a
dinner to be provided, was as follows : " Garrawa's,
twelve o'clock. Dear Mrs. B : Chops and tomato
sauce. Yours, Pickwick." Buzfuz, you know, endeav-
ored to make this note — the viand and vegetable men-
tioned being claimed to be terms of endearment — with
other like evidence, prove the courtship, breach of prom-
ise, and all If you do not remember the case well and
clearly borrow Pickwick Papers, and you will soon see
how you can hit Porter severely, and at the same time
recommend yourself to the jury and the country. No
more telling illustration of Porter's style and pretensions
here could be given.
Another good hit you can give Porter is this: He lays
claim to excellence, not only as a lawyer, but as a litera-
tus — a dilettant, or rather a cognoscente. Arraign Porter
220
for his assurance, his egotism, fluency, and euphonism,
and then quote from the Spectator, No. 484, against him.
The article shows how men with conceit rise to eminence
by wordy noise, where men of talent, with modesty, i*e-
main below ; and you have only to give this quotation
from the Spectator to cut him deeply.
" I must confess when I have seen Charles Frankair
rise up with a commanding mien, and torrent of hand-
some words, talk a mile off the purpose, and drive down
boobies of ten times his sense, who at the same time were
envying his impudence and despising his understanding,
it has been matter of great mirth to me."
This I take it would be a nut-shell view of the interior
of the court-room. You can make a good point of this
with the jury if you take time to elaborate it. Get the
book if you can, though my introduction is accurate and
the quotation verhathn.
And now, a word about Mr. Davidge. Pa laughed a
good deal about Mr. Davidge's employment by the Gov-
ernment now, when only a few year ago he appeared in
court against the Government ; not as counsel, but as a
witness — an expert witness. He was called as a legal
expert, and expert as to the law of the United States re-
lating to treason, in the proceedings at Montreal for the
extradition of the St. Albans raiders. Mr. Davidge was
called to prove that the acts of robbery and murder com-
mitted by this predatory gang at St. Albans would con-
stitute treason under the laws and Constitution of the
United States. Mr. "Expert" Davidge, pa (who was
present on the occasion) says, swore it all, without blush-
ing. It was his testimony, mainly, upon which the rob-
bers and murderers were discharged.
Now, I think from my observation of the trial — your
trial — as it has been presented by the newspapers, that
Mr. Davidge will be the counsel appointed to have most
221
to say about " experts." You will therefore have an op-
portunity to set him out nicely, and I believe yours is
one of that numeroiis class of cases in which it is only
necessary to knock down (figuratively, of course) the
prosecuting attorneys to destroy their cause. You may,
then, on the " expert " line, hang up Mr. Davidge like a
green goose, and make him feel that " the goose hangs
high " on the wrong side of the mouth. O, I would I
were a man ; how I would like to get my tongue on that
pretentious, inflated old Copperhead !
I had thought only to give you a manuscript copy of
Davidge's testimony referred to, but, Mr. Gniteau, to
prevent the old rebel from disputing you, I shall cut a
leaf containing his testimony from the printed report of
the St. Albans case. The book is a large one, and at
this time it would, I suppose, be impossible to purchase
a copy at any price, in any store in Canada or the United
States. Pa, I know, thinks it contains the best and most
exhaustive arguments on various points of international
law that have ever been delivered and published. You
can, therefore, understand how much above money's worth
he values this book which contains evei'y woi'd of the testi-
mony and a word-for-word copy of the arguments of the
distinguished counsel.
Now I shall venture without father's leave — as he is
still in Washington — to cut out the leaf containing
Davidge's testimony and send it to you that you may con-
front him should he — good Government man as he now
is — attempt to dispute your arraignment of his record as
a patriot, a citizen, and an expert. Perhaps it would be
better in " pitching into him,'' to have the leaf, the proof
of his Copperheadism or disloyalty, at hand, and shake
it in his face at the first moment of arraigning him. This
if dramatically done would confound him and extort from
his face and manner a confession of guilt. Davidge's
222
testimony, as legal expert, was short, (it was on a hypo-
thetical question, too,) because the counsel for the U. S.
refused, as they did as to most witnesses, to cross-examine.
But it should be remembered that Mr. Davidge was the
only "expert" on the law that was called. He did all
that was required on that branch of the case ; and you
can, if you assail him heartily, drive him in shame from
the court.
You will, I am sure, remembering how I have taken
the responsibility to cut out this leaf, take good care to
preserve and return it to me. I have removed it with
care so that I can replace it without leaving any sign of
mutilation visible. I should have sent the book entire,
but that I am inclined to think it would never reach you
or return to me. Mr. Davidge, I know, would take pleas-
ure in giving it over to the devouring element. Then as
soon as you have made use of the extract, please enclose it
to me for replacement.
I pray to heaven that you will not spare these men.
Show the inconsistency of Davidge's attitude as an expert
eighteen years ago against his Government, and now, in
a spirit of repentance^ raking up experts for the purposes
of a Government prosecution. This, with a bit of good
mimicry, with Bazfuz as an illustration, which will disarm
the polished rhetoric of Porter in a great degree, will, I
do believe, have more effect on the chances of the trial
than all the evidence introduced ; all the logic, solid
reasoning, and law that the case has called forth. Fre-
quent ejaculations during Porter's speeish of "Chops and
tomato sauce," — or, as Buzfuz in one place exclaims to
the jury, "Chops! Gracious heavens! and tomato
sauce !" — would bring down the house and destroy the
effect of Porter's magniloquent periods.
You could make your comparison of Porter to Buzfuz
the more neat and effective if you had the Pickwick Papers
223
to refer to and read from in making your illustration. At
any rate, you ought to have the book in jail to glance over
the Buzfuz argument, and I would mail it to you but that
I am assured it would never be permitted to reach you.
So, borrow a copy, or, as bi'other tells me that it was pub-
lished in the Seaside Series, under the title of Pickwick
Papers, you could make your brother get it for you.
The Buzfuz argument, &c., will be found in chapter 34.
By means of this case, pa once so ridiculed an argument
of Mr. O'Conor, which he could not have met with the
logic of facts or the law, that he achieved an unexpected
and undeserved victory. It will stand you in equally
good stead.
Thursday, Jan. 12, 1882.
Mr. GuiTEAU :
T abstained from closing my letter last evening, think-
ing I might wish to add something to-day. I observed
in this morning's Herald, that you had a call yesterday
from a photographer, and that you will set to him after
you have made your closing speech. Perhaps, then, it
will be possible for me, after all, to get a faithful likeness
of you. It may not be convenient for you to send me
one — though it would be the more prized if received from
your own hand — but if you will inform me of the name
and address of the artist, or how I can obtain the picture,
I will send for one before they are all gone. If I do not
send you mine with this letter, I will enclose it to-morrow
or next day. I am going over to New York as soon as I
close, and on my way shall drive around to two or three
friends who may have small pictures of me.
And now, Mr. Guiteau, I must say an revoir. I am
compelled to conclude rather abruptly, as I had coaxed
brother, who is attending Columbia College, to wait and
take the carriage with me, just as he was about to take a
car ; and he has just sent up word to hurry me. I pray
224
God may give you strength, wisdom, and skill to make a
successful defence. May He inspire you with the grand-
est and loftiest ideas and fancies, and give you a preter-
natural command of the most solemn and sublime words
in our language, with which to impress on the jury your
irresponsibility and guiltlessness — to make them feel
that —
'• Truth crush'd to earth, shall never rise again ;
The eternal years of God are hers,"
and that it will be better for their peace of mind and for
their future, if they uphold it now, rather than have it
rise before them hereafter ; that if they crush it to earth
now it will be recorded against them and crush them
when they are judged by a court that cannot err. And,
oh ! may you soon be restored to liberty, to the world,
where you will find more numerous and appreciative
friends than you have ever before known.
Prayfully yours.
New York, Friday Evening, Jan. 20, 1882.
Mr. GuiTEAu :
My Dear Persecuted Friend : When I closed my latest
letter to you I expected ere this to have sent you, as a
token of sympathy and of confidence in your honor, my
photograph. With that letter in hand I left home intend-
ing — with a view of complying with your request the
sooner — if possible to procure one of my pictures from a
near friend, and in case of failure, to immediately have
some new copies taken. After sealing and mailing my
letter, I dropped brother up town and drove at once to
the home of a lady cousin in Twenty-third street, whom
I had thought to make accompany me to a photographer's.
She is one of the very few friends I have to whom I could
willingl}' explain the reason of my being so pressed for a
225
picture as to seek it in such disagreeable weather ; and
reaching the house I found her ill — sick enough to be in
bed — although she had retired the night before in the
best of spirits, and apparently in excellent health.
Of course I could not ask my poor cousin to accom-
pany 7ne ; but she did ask me to remain with her, which
I should have done unasked ; and there I have been ever
since until noon to-day, when I left my patient rapidly
convalescing. To-moiTow, unless the state of the weather
forbids, I will either find or sit for a photograph. If
prevented to-morrow, I will take advantage of the next
available day. You shall not, my friend, be disappointed,
though I cannot flatter myself that your disappointment
would be as intense as mine would be at not receiving a
picture of you.
Your last two letters post-marked respectively the 13th
and 17th insts., (which for some inexplicable cause were
delivered simultaneously,) were delivered to me by brother
yesterday morning. I would have replied at once, but I
could not compose my mind sufficiently to do so. Pleased,
thankful, as I was to receive your letters, I cannot, even
yet, tell whether they gave me more pleasure, or pain.
As I read the latest, penned in jail, giving expression to
the noble sentiments, aspirations, and hopes animating
your bosom, my heart swelled with sympathetic rapture ;
when I arrived at the end of the paragraph, when I came
to your observations on the realities of your situation, I
seemingly felt, as a cold perspiration burst from my fore-
head, the frigid touch of prison walls, and heard the
clanging of bolts and chains.
O, my poor friend, how can you in such surroundings, so
implicitly indulge anticipations of justice ! I own that this
faith, this sublime faith, in one sense pleases me. To my
mind it is irrefragable evidence that you sincerely believe
in your claim of inspiration. But, my dear friend, is it
220
wise that you should so confidently look forward to life
and liberty ? God knows I would not have you give way
to disappointment and despair ; would not have you
cower or cry —
" Miue after-life ! what is mine after-life ?
My day is closed ! the gloom of night is come !
A hopeless darkness settles o'er my fate !"
No ; I would have you hold no commerce with despair.
I would have you hope atrtl draw from that celestial pas-
sion all the comfort and strength that the consciousness
of innocence will reasonably justify one, persecuted by
popular malice and the utmost power of governing poli-
ticians. I would have you hope, but would have you
at the same time remember, that " hope is for-
tune's cheating lottery," where for one prize there
are a hundred blanks. I would have you remem-
ber that you are being tried (most unfairly tried) under
human (not divine) law, and would have you not forget
that a host of men and woman, inspired of God, have, in
His inscrutable wisdom, been allowed, whilst devoting
their best energies to His service, to perish by the most
cruel and ignominious contrivances that human ingenuity
could invent. I would have you, whilst never doubting
the genuineness of your inspiration to remove Gai'field,
bear in mind that it may have been a part of the divine
dispensation that your own mortal part should build still
higher the hecatomb of martyrs that has been reared by
that Christian Moloch, that profane trinity, passion, preju-
dice, and perversive power.
" The ways of heaven are dark and intricate ;
Puzzled with mazes and perplexed with error,
Our understanding searches them in vain."
We only know that God moves in a mysterious way His
wonders to perform. And I would have you, dear friend,
227
pepared to smile with complacency on any freak of fickler
fortune ; to meet with courage and fortitude the worst
possibility that can lie in the future ; to face death, if con-
demned by the court and jury, like a martyr, without fal-
tering, flinching, or fear. I would have you, whilst feel-
ing that human justice had been denied you, believe that,
like Peter, Paul, and many others, you are as an instru-
ment of God on earth, left to suffer in fulfilment of a
preordained destiny. I would have realize now, that —
" Alas ! there is no stay in human state,
No one can shun inevitable fate ;
The doom was written, the decree was past.
Ere the foundations of the world were cast."
No ; I would not have you ; it would be too terrible.
Sunday Evening, 9.25 o'clock.
At the above point I was interrupted by a call from a
gentleman acquaintance. I had twice within a half hour
been " not at home " to callers, but the third call was from
a gentleman who is to sail by the Parthia on Wednesday,
to finish his universit}' career at Heidelberg, and I could
not refuse to say au revoir ; the more especially as he
once saved my life at the risk of his own. It was too
late to resume my letter when he departed and yesterday,
O ! what a miserable Saturday it was. I had the ennui
from morning till night. I couldn't have touched a pen,
pencil, brush, book, or needle, to have won a new com-
pliment. After reading the conclusion of Mr. Scoville's
argument I challenged brother, who, on account of the
weather had remained at home, to contend at chess; then
at billiards, and finally at target-shooting with both bow
and pistol ; and though I was defeated in all these for
the first time by this adversary, it failed to set my slug-
gish blood in circulation and throw off the depression.
It would have looked absurd, and would have been
228
cruelty to horses to have driven around in quest of one
of my pictures, and would have been an unfit day to sit for
one. This last was the reason I did not attempt to finish
my letter. I thought that as I must wait for the photo,
I would wait to finish writing. So, after failing to get
clear of the blues, I unconditionally surrendered myself
to laziness and languor, and drooped and moped — now
playing a selection from Rienzi backwards, and singing
the Marseillaise to the air of Yankee Doodle ; now spin-
ning around on the piano-stool and imagining myself a
top ; then, with my nose flattened against the window-
pane, watching the rain, the boats plying the river, and
the elevated trains (or the long lines of smoke from them)
as they bowled like ten-pin balls, along the streets of New
York. Finally, when almost sun-set, I clipped a few
flowers for the dinner-table, thinking the while how I
would like to make up a bouquet, which should, in the
language of flowers, express some of my thoughts and
feelings, to place on your table, or iu the window beside
the potted plants provided by the tender hands and
thoughtful care of your sister. Little did I think — nor
would any one be likely to suppose — that this thought or
wish would lead me to the commission of a criminal act ;
nevertheless such was the case. When dinner was half
over, brother, whom I had noticed from time to time eye-
ing me critically, suddenly exclaimed '• Good heavens,
Gus, are you out of your head ?" " No, but I think you
must be," I replied ;" what in the world are you staring
at me in that absurd way forf I very soon learned the
"why" and the "wherefore." It was all on account of
a camelia that I wore in my bosom, and which. Eve-like,
I had plucked from a forbidden tree or shrub.
Last autumn when we returned from abroad, brother,
who from a child has shown a passion for flowers and
floriculture, almost amounting to a mania, brought home
229
with him, besides a box of cuttings and layings, a potted
camelia — the gift of one of the greatest florists in France —
the result of fifteen year's hybridization of camelia Ja^on-
ica, reticulata, and the oleifera, in all their varieties, the
like of which has never yet been seen in any private con-
servatory in Europe, still less in this country. Well, a few
days ago this priceless plant put foi'th a bud which, un-
folding itself, threw brother into estacies. It was a fine
flower, truly, as all camelias are, but, to my notion, was
not the bell of the conservatory. In making up a dinner
vase I had. with other exotics, clipped quite a number of
Camelias of various sorts, and I do not think anything led
me to pluck the new foreigner for my bosom but the cir-
cumstance of its standing alone. All camelias, in the
language of flowers, alike mean '' pity," you know, and
it must have been its forlorn condition ; its emblematic
character, coinciding with the thoughts and sympathy
excited by your solitary and desclate situation, which
had been uppermost in my mind all day, that impelled
me, mechanically, to commit the awful crime. But didn't
I catch it ? Such a scolding ! I offered to tie or glue the
flower back on the plant, but even that did not appease
brother's wrath. After getting nearly out of breath he
wound up, " By gracious, it is worse than Guiteau pull-
ing up turnips for weeds. I tell you, mother, that ever
since you let Gus correspond with that lunatic she has
been as crazy as he is" — quite a compliment to you as
well as to myself. But when I said demurely, " I hope
you will forgive me, Livy, for I do assure you the poor
flower appeared so isolated and lonely that I heard it, as
I passed, exclaim ' pity,' and in pity I took it to my
bosom;" as I said this he fell to laughing, and I really
believe he forgave me.
I have told all this about myself, Mr. Guiteau, that you
may see what a foolish, cranky sort of person your cor-
230
respondent is. And having done this I shall put my
letter aside until Monday afternoon or evening, when I
shall know whether I can send you a photagraph without
having, in this disagreeable weather, to go and sit for one.
Though the picture will hardly repay the interest you
take in it, you shall surely have it.
Monday Evening, 8^ P. M.
Mr. Guiteau :
"When on Friday evening I was interrupted, I was
speaking in regard to your confident expectation of an
acquittal. I do not know precisely what more I would
have said, had I been left undisturbed, but my principal
purpose was to caution you against permitting your con-
sciousness of innocence, your natural desire, and san-
guine temperament to elevate your faith and anticipa-
tions to such a height that disappointment would prove,
if not insupportable, -too intense for dignified conceal-
ment. "Blessed are they that expect nothing," says the
divine word, "for they shall not be disappointed.'' I
would not have you indulge in
" Those high-built hopes that crush us by their fall."
I would not have you die from excessive joy on the one
hand, or from disappointment on the other. A convic-
tion would be hard enough to bear, even if you are well
prepared for it. It would be a thousand times harder to
bear if you are over-confideutly expecting an acquittal.
O, if a thought or suggestion from me should, in case
yoii are condemned, serve to mitigate the immediate force
of the terrible blow, how thankful I should be !
But I have in mind not only your feelings but your
fame, your character for courage. If the foreman of that
jury pronounces the word "guilty," I would have you
prepared to swallow the verdict as the ancient boxer,
231
whose incisors bad been knocked from the sockets by his
adversary, swallowed bis teeth with a smile and with a
composure that shall disappoint the rabble and vindic-
tive, who hope to be regaled with reports of yonr trepi-
dation and agony. It is certain that your doom will not
be decided by this trial even should the verdict be against
you, and a modest exhibition of fortitude and mild de-
fiance will go far to aid you in public opinion and other-
wise in the future.
" The truly brave,
When they behold the brave assail'd by odds.
Are touched with a desire to shield or save."
And if, finally, the law fails to do you justice — or I
should say if the instruments of the law, judges and ju-
rors, fail to try you impartially and deal out equity — or,
in other words, if the persistent clamor of the press (and
with a blush be it said, of the pulpit) and the consequent
howls of the hollow-headed masses, are to override law
and justice — if you are to be pushed, persecuted, and
pursued to death, like a mad bull in the Plaza de Toros,
may your courage and fortitude be such that the pica-
dores, cbulos, matador, and spectators — that is to say,
the counsel, court, executioner, and public shall be com-
pelled to declare, with Cbilde Harold's description of the
brave bull in the arena —
" Slowly he falls, amidst triumphing cries,
Without a groan, without a struggle, dies."
Bennett, of the "Herald."
There are many who predict that in the event of your
final condemnation and execution, you will break down
and die a craven and dastard. This is a vaticination of
that miserable Herald, whose owner's pusillanimity and
cowardice has made him a notorious laughing-stock both
232
in this country and Europe. I have more than once seen
in drawing-rooms in London and Paris sly winks and
contemptuous smiles, and heard derisive remarks, not a
yard from his elbow, concerning the horse- whipping he
received and avenged with blank cartridges. I would have
the prediction false, if only to disappoint that wretched
poltroon. I would have him and others like him con-
demned, like those damned souls of Dante, who, for their
predictions, had their faces turned behind, and were com-
pelled for all eternity to walk backwards. No one but a
beastly coward at heart, though believing you guilty,
would anticipate and comment with satisfaction on the
probability, born of his wishes, that you would meet an
ignominious and inhuman death, with manifestations of
agony, despair, weakness, and fear.
I cannot believe, my friend, that such a fate is in store
for you. I cannot believe that any honest jury would
convict you in the absence of any adequate personal mo-
tive for the deed. But still I beg you to be not too confi-
dent of an acquittal, but to be fully prepared to accept with
stoicism and nonchalance any verdict that may come.
Should you be convicted many good lawyers are of opin-
ion that you will receive a new trial, and in that case I
promise you that you shall not be convicted again. I,
with other ladies of my acquaintance, have vowed to find
you counsel able to cope with and vanquish Mr. Porter
and his associates.
Tuesday Evening, 8 o'clock.
My Dear Poor Friend :
You Beemed to have received the impression that pa's
refusal to let me visit you at the jail was prompted by
pride or loftiness, or repugnance or aversion. This is
not by any means the case. Pa, although not a politician,
is a Stalwart of the first water, and he feared that the
circumstance of his visiting you in jail, or of permitting
233
me to do so, would, should it become known, be inter-
preted as an approval of your course. This considera-
tion has without doubt kept hundreds of persons who
sympathize with you from calling at the jail. But, for
my part, I do not at all believe in this caution or circum-
spection. It smacks of timidity and hypocrisy.
Ingratitude of the Stalwarts.
So far as Stalwart politicians who have been benefited by
Garfield's death are concerned, I think their conduct has
been in the last degree heartless and infamous. Arthur,
Conkling, Grant, and others were glad, were delighted,
when the news of Garfield's fall was flashed over the wires.
When it was believed he would recover they prayed that
he might die. When death came they pretended to
grieve, whilst their hearts were overflowing with exulta-
tion ; and by his bier wept crocodile tears. There is not
one of them who does not believe that the Republican
party has been saved and the country benefited by your
act. And yet not one of them has had the heart or man-
liness to do one thing to save you from the gallows, or
ensure you even-handed justice. I would not, of course,
expect them to fly openly to your assistance, but they
could have aided you, and if they had a grain of grati-
tude in their souls they would have done so stealthily.
But on the contrary, they have all of them. Senator
Logan excepted, been helping to immolate you. Should
you be convicted and sentenced I am certain that Presi-
dent Arthur, who owes his elevation entirely to you, would
allow you to be hanged like a dog. O, Mr. Guiteau, I
implore you that in case the worst should come, as I
imagine such a climax, in spite of all endeavor to drive
it from my thoughts. Sometimes I see you resisting
your executioners, fighting with the desperation of despair
for your life. At others, I see you walk to the fatal trap
234
with manly dignity and composure, and submit your
head to the murderous rope. O, horror of horrors ! I
feel at such times that I must fly to you to save you. I
can hardly suppress my shrieks, while I tremble and
shudder like an aspen, as tears and cold sweat pour from
me like rain.
But I cannot and will not believe that the court will
be so deaf to the appeals of justice and mercy as to con-
sign you, in defiance of law, human and divine, to so
terrible an end. God has said " A tree shall be judged
by its fruit." Tour tree, the tree that Porter and his as-
sociates are denouncing, brought forth fruit that reunited
and saved from dissolution the Republican party, and
saved the country as well, and for this you are, they in-
sist, to be hewn down ; I do not and will not believe it.
And when, within five minutes I shall close my letter, I
shall fall on my knees and pray, as I have for weeks done
every night, that God may spare your life and restore you
to liberty.
And now, my poor friend, good-night. I have written
you a long letter ; but have not said one of the many
things I would, if circumstances permitted, most like to
say. I trust, indeed — " I feel it in my bones," to use a
common expression of brother's — that we shall some time
meet, and meet outside of prison walls. Good-night,
and may the just and merciful God protect and bless you.
Thursday Morning,
(The day after my conviction.)
Poor soul, and so it is all over. But despair not. You
shall yet be saved. I am too wild and nervous to write
more. Do let me hear from you soon, and tell me just
how you are treated now. Keep in good spirits, for all
will yet be well. Miserable as I feel and bad as the
weather is T have ordered the carriage and am going to
235
talk with some lady sympathizers as to what can be done.
Be brave and patient and you shall be saved.
Gen. Crocker :
Dear Sir : Will yon have the kindness to deliver the ac-
companying letter to Mr. Guiteau ?
It is scarcely necessary for any one, especially for one of
my sex, to disclaim any sympathy with Guiteau's act. If I
believed he was sane at the time of the shooting of the
President I could bear to see him burnt.
But I do not believe that Mr. Guiteau was of sound
mind when he committed the act. It has been my
fortune to see one of the most gentle and tenderest
of creatures, a young girl, a clergyman's daughter, who had
always so loved God as to be not only immaculate, but
almost impeccable, so far carried away by a supposed divine
inspiration as to contemplate and contrive a crime more
heinous, under the laws of nature, than that perpetrated
by Guiteau. No one, no expert, though he had been for
years in daily intercourse with her, would have suspected
her of having a monomania, or an insane delusion of any
kind. It was reserved for me to learn from her own lips
that she was a victim of a delusion that she had been
commanded by God to take the life of the being, whom,
next to her mother and father, she loved best on earth —
her twin brother.
Many phases and features in her case and Guiteau's
are analogous, and convince me that Garfields death was
not compassed by a sane, responsible mind. No ade-
quate motive for the terrible deed has been shown. En-
tertaining this belief, as I do in common with thousands,
I cannot help sympathizing with your prisoner. I think
it would be a horrible crime to hang him.
Very respectfully yours,
236
Conclusion.
My name will be remembered as the author of this
book.
Whatever this generation may think of me, future
generations will see my work and record from this book.
It was sown in dishonor, but the Almighty will see that
it is raised in power. " Ye are honorable, but I am de-
spised " — by fools and devils. But the Almighty will
reckon with these fellows. It is a small thing that I
should be judged of man's judgment. For men curse
you to-day and bless you to-morrow.
It matters little to me whether I live three months or
twenty years. Life is a flimsy dream, and it matters
little when one goes. Paradise is a great improvement
on this sin-cursed world, and I shall be far better off
there than here.
If my case had been well tried I should not be
in danger of being murdered on the gallows for exe-
cuting the divine will. But what can you expect of
a real estate lawyer ? — a man without means or ex-
perience in the conduct of criminal causes. For these
reasons, if for no other, I ought to have another chance.
But it does not make much difference. My life has
been a sad one and the sooner I get out of this world
the better it will be for me. There is nothing in this
world I want.
This book will fix my historical position, and I am con-
tent to go if the Lord wants me. But my blood will be
on this nation and the officials that murder me on the
237
gallows. If I were in the White House and General
Arthur were in my place, I would pardon him though
every man, woman, and child in America cursed me for
it. I would do it on the ground that I believed him in-
sane at the time he fired the shot, and I would let the
future decide whether I was right or wrong.
FROM A BOSTON LADY.
To Chaeles Guitkau.
To-day before your God you stand,
He claims you as a valiant son ;
Enough ; 'tis done at His command,
Repress your fears, the victory's won.
O, who should strive to learn His ways,
Profound through all the ages passed ;
Enough that we obey and praise.
In these we win the crown at last.
Servant of Him who rules the sky,
The crown on earth shall yet be thine.
Hold up thy head ; thy dimless eye
Yet shall behold a crown divine.
Down the dark vale thy foeman flies.
Over the lords, the wise and grand,
Over the host thou shalt arise.
Millions shall bow at thy command.
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